UNITY, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police honored a trooper who was killed in a vehicle crash this summer by naming its newest mounted unit member after him.
Stewart, a brown and white horse, recently joined the unit, named after Trooper Michael P. Stewart III, 26, of Unity.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 62 announced the horse's addition to the state police ranks in a Facebook post that noted a tradition to name four-legged mounted unit members after a fallen trooper.
Stewart was driving a marked police sport-utility vehicle on Route 711 in Ligonier Township on July 14 when it collided with a garbage truck at 2:20 a.m. Police said Stewart and his passenger, Trooper Travis November, were traveling south when the cruiser crashed into the driver's side of the McInchok Sanitation truck. The garbage truck was making a left turn out of a parking lot to head north on Route 711, police said.
Investigators determined that the patrol unit was the at-fault vehicle and the crash involved a number of factors, including the police car's speed, the sight distance, the wet road and fog.
November was injured in the crash. Both troopers were wearing seat belts.
Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-837-5374, [email protected] or via Twitter @byrenatta.
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