Pa. State Trooper Killed in Fiery Chain-Reaction Crash During Inspection Stop
What to Know
- Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael E. Pahira, a 20-year veteran and motor carrier enforcement officer, died after being struck by a tractor-trailer while conducting a commercial vehicle inspection along Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County.
- Authorities said a speeding tractor-trailer left the roadway, slammed into Pahira's parked inspection vehicle and the truck he was inspecting, trapping the trooper beneath the wreckage as a fire erupted.
- Pahira was rescued by fellow troopers and EMS personnel but never regained consciousness. Investigators are still examining the crash, and no decision on possible charges against the truck driver has been made.
Pahira was inspecting a tractor-trailer near mile marker 119 on the southbound lanes of the highway. As he was speaking with the driver, Pahira was standing near the driver’s door of the cab. His inspection vehicle was parked behind the tractor trailer.
Another tractor trailer traveling south on I-81 drove onto the berm, hit the inspection truck and pushed it into the tractor trailer. Because the truck that ran off the road was driving fast, it hit the parked vehicles with a lot of force, Bevins said.
The speeding truck drove the tractor-trailer that was being inspected “quite some distance” down the berm, into the grass and along the left side of the vehicle.
There, it hit Pahira and trapped him under the vehicle, Bivens said.
The truck caught on fire with the trooper trapped.
Other troopers and EMS personnel came to Pahira’s aid, removed him from under the truck and began to render aid.
He never regained consciousness and died in the hospital, despite a 90-minute “valiant effort” to save his life, Bivens said.
The driver of the tractor trailer that killed Pahira is in the hospital. Police would not release further details on his condition, and said it’s too soon to say if charges will be brought against the driver.
“Clearly, something very bad happened here, and there will be a thorough investigation, and then we will work with the district attorney’s office to review all of that information,” Bivens said.
Bivens said the tractor trailer that killed Pahira was “nearly completely destroyed,” but police will work to collect evidence from the vehicle and examine the operator.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said Pahira always wanted to be a police officer, and was a devoted brother, uncle and son.
“He was a good man and a good cop,” Shapiro said.
Flags will be lowered in the state to half-staff for Pahira.
All lanes on I-81 south between exit 124A and exit 119 are closed while police are investigating.
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