State cop charged
with reckless driving
in accident that killed

By BRIAN GEOGHAN
Dispatch/Sunday News

   A state police trooper whose out-of- control cruiser killed a motorcyclist on a winding York County road will not be charged with vehicular homicide, the York County District Attorney's office announced today.
   Called to investigate the accident involving Trooper Gerald Devlin and the motorcyclist, the DA's office decided to charge Devlin only with reckless driving, driving at an unsafe speed and failure to drive on the right side of the road, all summary offenses.
   The crash occurred on Route 851 in Codorus Township around 5 p.m. March 29. Devlin had turned his cruiser around to pursue a car that had no inspection sticker. Shortly after turning around, Devlin crashed head-on with a motorcycle driven by 39-year-old Kenneth Saunders Fowler, of Monkton, Md.
   "I don't think anything would be gained by charging the trooper," District Attorney Stan Rebert said. "It was a terrible tragedy; he was doing his job but he exercised extremely poor judgment, and Mr. Fowler was killed."
   Two weeks ago, state police investigators turned over their preliminary findings to the DA's office.
   Rebert's office investigated the accident while state police conducted a "parallel, internal investigation," Rebert said. The results of that investigation are expected soon, he said.
   An accident reconstruction revealed Devlin was speeding at the point of impact, driving 58 mph in a 45 mph zone, just south of the Route 516 intersection.
   The curve has 30 mph yellow warning signs, but those signs are only a warning and are not enforceable speed limits, police said. The yellow warning sign facing Devlin's direction of travel, in the westbound lane, had been missing for more than a year.
   The car that was being pursued has not been located.