Man pleads not guilty in fatal accident

August 11, 1998|By DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Greencastle, Pa., man charged in the death of a father and son in an April accident pleaded not guilty in an informal arraignment Monday at the Franklin County Courthouse.

According to the District Attorney's Office, Thomas Arthur Potter, 58, of 2990 Buchanan Trail West, signed papers indicating his plea to the charges. He is scheduled to have his case heard during the September trial term.

Potter, who was scheduled for arraignment today, was charged in the April 18 deaths of Mark Donald Hykes, 34, of 11112 Welsh Run Road, Greencastle, and his 4-year-old son, Daniel Mark Hykes, according to Pennsylvania State Police records.

Charges include two counts each of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter, and one count of driving under the influence, according to court records.

Police said Potter's van was westbound on Buchanan Trail West in Antrim Township, Pa., at 8:09 p.m. when it struck the rear of Hykes' 1991 Ford Escort, which was stopped to turn left onto Hill Road.

The impact forced the Escort into the eastbound lane, where it hit a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder, the police report said. That collision forced the car into a pickup truck at the Hill Road stop sign, the report said.

Police records said Potter had a blood alcohol level of .237 percent, more than twice Pennsylvania's legal intoxication limit of .10 percent.

A conviction for homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence carries a three-year mandatory minimum sentence on each count and a seven-year maximum sentence.

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