Group wants homicide
charges filed against cop
who killed cyclist
during high-speed chase

By MICHAEL RACE
Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- A statewide motorcyclists' advocacy group wants Attorney General Mike Fisher to investigate the accident that killed Maryland motorcyclist Kenneth Fowler.
   A spokesman for Fisher said such an investigation isn't likely, because Fisher's office doesn't have the power to intervene in the matter.
   Fowler, 39, was killed March 29 in a head-on collision with state Trooper Gerald Devlin on Route 851 in Codorus Township, York County. Devlin's cruiser crossed the center line during the high-speed pursuit of another vehicle and struck Fowler's motorcycle.
   York County District Attorney Stan Rebert filed charges against Devlin for reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving at an unsafe speed. But Rebert didn't charge Devlin with vehicular homicide, saying his actions were not grossly negligent.
Many bikers outraged:
   The decision has outraged many bikers, including members of the Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education, or ABATE. The Harrisburg-based group wrote a letter to Rebert and Fisher last week, calling the decision to not bring vehicular homicide charges "contemptible."
   "It is not vengeance which is sought, only justice," ABATE State Coordinator Dan Faingnaert wrote in the letter. "We demand ... that the appropriate charge of homicide by vehicle be filed, and that we let a jury of Trooper Devlin's peers decide whether his actions have demonstrated criminal culpability."
   The letter also asks Fisher to "exercise his authority" and take over the investigation into the crash.
   Charles Umbenhauer, state legislative coordinator for ABATE, said Fisher should step in to ensure "someone free of local political concerns" investigates Fowler's death.
   "Justice demands nothing less," Umbenhauer said during an ABATE rally yesterday at the Capitol. Hundreds of bikers showed up to demand a repeal of the state's mandatory helmet law.
   Fisher spokesman Sean Connolly said the attorney general's power to take over a case is limited.
   Fisher could step in if Rebert had a conflict of interest or a lack of investigative resources, for example. Fisher also could intervene with approval of the courts if he could prove Rebert had shown an abuse of discretion in handling the case.
   "Those factors are not evident here," Connolly said.
   Rebert said the attorney general's intervention in the case isn't necessary.
   "I don't see the need to take the time and expense to do that," Rebert said yesterday. He acknowledged his decision has been controversial, but denied he is bowing to any pressure, political or otherwise.
   In fact, Rebert said, much of the pressure put on him in recent days has come from those who disagreed with his decision in the Devlin case.