Three die in head-on collision in Pa.

April 25, 2000|By RICHARD BELISLE and BRENDAN KIRBYs

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - A head-on collision between a car and a pickup truck on a rural Franklin County, Pa., road Tuesday morning claimed the lives of three Greencastle men.

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Christopher Wiles, 30, and Paul Logsdon, 31, both of Leitersburg Road in Greencastle, died on impact in the 7:40 a.m. accident, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Corey Johnson, 20, of Greencastle, died at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, a nursing supervisor said.

Police said Wiles was driving a 1984 Chrysler New Yorker that collided with a pickup truck. Logsdon was riding in the front passenger seat of the car and Johnson was in the car's back seat, according to police.

Police identified the driver of the 1995 Ford F-150 pickup truck as Dwight Leer, 23, of Smithsburg. He was released after treatment at Chambersburg (Pa.) Hospital, a spokeswoman there said.

A blood test showed the car's driver was legally intoxicated, police said.

Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey R. Conner said Wiles' blood alcohol count was above 0.10 percent.

"We won't know exactly how much over it was until the legal reports are in, in about two weeks," Conner said.

According to police, Wiles' Chrysler sedan was eastbound on Leitersburg Road about one-quarter mile west of the intersection with Bemisderfer Road in Antrim Township, Pa., when it crossed the center line and struck the pickup truck head-on. The pickup was towing a GEO Metro when the collision occurred, police said.

The Chrysler rotated counter-clockwise on the road and came to rest facing west, police said. Leer's pickup went off the road on the north berm and stopped on a small bank, also facing west, police said.

Traffic was blocked in both directions on the two-lane road and was rerouted around the scene by police and emergency crews for at least three hours.

None of the occupants of the Chrysler was wearing a seat belt, police said. The front of the Chrysler was crumpled inward into the front seat area.

Leer was wearing a seat belt, and the airbag in his truck deployed, police said.

The state police accident reconstruction team was called in to help with the investigation.

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