June 25--A Pennsylvania state trooper suspected of drunken driving in a fatal crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike was charged with homicide by vehicle, Montgomery County prosecutors announced Monday.
Trooper Barry Searfoss Jr., 40, was charged Monday in the crash that happened May 18 in Upper Dublin Township, prosecutors said.
Searfoss, who lives in Coatesville, Chester County, is stationed at the Lancaster barracks. In addition to homicide by vehicle while under the influence, Searfoss is also charged with homicide by vehicle, drunken driving, careless driving and reckless driving.
Searfoss is free after posting $50,000 bail and was ordered to surrender his driver's license and not drink alcohol, according to a news release from Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
According to a news release from Ferman:
Police said around 10 p.m. on May 18, Searfoss was not working and was driving back from a charity golf tournament. Police said his pickup slammed into the back of a vehicle driven by Robin Taneisha Williams, 21, of Philadelphia.
Williams' cause of death after the crash is listed as multiple blunt force injuries, thermal burns and smoke inhalation.
Police said Williams' car was having mechanical problems and was slowing down when Searfoss allegedly struck her. After the crash, Searfoss' blood-alcohol content was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Searfoss has been a state trooper for 11 years.
Members of Williams' family have said she was an only daughter and was working full time while going to college and helping take care of her bedridden mother.
Tracy Jordan
Copyright 2012 - The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
