Man faces trial in fatal I-99 accident
PennDOT foreman killed when struck by skidding vehicle
Trending
The case against a State College man charged in the February death of a PennDOT foreman he struck with his car will go to court for trial.
"He basically indicated he was going too fast," state police Cpl. Kenneth Benton testified before Magisterial District Judge Fred Miller on Tuesday during a preliminary hearing for Guanglong Hu, a 30-year-old Penn State graduate student who struck and killed PennDOT foreman Robert Gensimore during a snowstorm on I-99 on the afternoon of Feb. 17.
Benton testified Hu said he was driving about 65 mph when he lost control of a Chevrolet Cobalt as he was heading south from State College to Altoona. The trooper told the court Hu said he was driving through a curve and saw the PennDOT arrow sign truck signaling traffic to merge into one lane because of an accident at 3:06 p.m.
Gensimore was setting out flares after parking the truck, one that displayed a blinking arrow to divert traffic out of the lane of a previous crash at mile marker 35. Hu tried to merge but couldn't because of other vehicles and then lost control after hitting his brakes, spinning into Gensimore and then the guardrail.
Assistant District Attorney Nathan Michaux argued that the weather was obviously a hazard and that Hu said he was driving too fast and applied his brakes, sending the car out of control.
"He was acting recklessly," Michaux said, hitting on the point in the law that supports the vehicular homicide charge. "There was snow on the ground. He said he was going too fast."
Hu's attorney, Brian Manchester, argued that prosecutors have never established a crime was committed -- only a tragic accident.
"Just because he went outside the lane is not evidence of a crime," Manchester said, pointing out the only evidence against Hu is his client's own statement to police that he was traveling about 65 mph and probably driving too fast for the snowy conditions.
Benton testified the conditions limited his speed driving to the scene to between 40 and 45 mph.
When questioned by Manchester, Benton acknowledged the state police's accident reconstructionist report does not indicate how fast Hu was traveling when he lost control or how much snow was on the road when it happened.
Benton testified he was at another crash further south, just beyond the Kettle Street overpass, when passing motorists stopped to tell him Gensimore had been struck about mile marker 34.3.
Benton said a "front was blowing in" that afternoon and the falling snow led to a couple of wrecks apart from Hu's. Benton said he left the scene of the first crash and headed north about a mile to the Hu wreck and encountered another accident along the way.
Gensimore was dead when he arrived at the scene, Benton said, and there was about 1-1.5 inches of snow on the road. The trooper testified the snow showed the path Hu's car took when it spun off the road and hit Gensimore, something Manchester probed in more detail when he cross-examined Benton.
"But you don't know how much snow accumulated in the tracks?" Manchester asked as he questioned the trooper about how state police could know how much snow was on the road at the time of the accident if it was snowing heavily and it took time for the trooper to arrive.
"I drove a mile," Benton said before conceding he didn't know how much more snow lay on the road when the scene was examined by police.
There were also no witnesses to the crash, Benton said, giving Manchester another point in his argument that apart from Hu's own words, nothing presented by police showed anything more than an accident.
Manchester added that along with Hu, there were several other wrecks within a short distance of each other on I-99 that day.
Manchester, responding to Miller's questions on the traffic citations and evidence Hu presented that suggested Hu was driving too fast and lost control, said that a driver can still be cited without an accident being a crime.
"We don't know if there was any other factors that caused this accident," Manchester said. "Were there other vehicles that forced him onto the berm?"
Miller told the attorney he could only consider the testimony given at the hearing and said what was presented was enough to send the case on to Blair County Court for further proceedings.
"All of the issues raised today are ultimately for the trier of fact," Miller said.
Hu, a Chinese citizen who is working toward a master's degree at Penn State University Park, remains free on an unsecured $150,000 bond. Miller declined a request from Manchester to drop a travel restriction imposed on Hu requiring he not leave the state without court approval, citing Hu's need to visit New York to meet with his immigration attorney. Along with needing court approval to leave Pennsylvania, Hu had to turn in his passport on June 15 after his arraignment.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.