By Amanda Dolasinski
The York Dispatch
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A new bill that would allow longer prison sentences for those who kill or injure emergency responders in vehicle crashes passed the state House last week.
The House voted 117-72 to pass the Sgt. Michael Weigand Act. The bill is named for an Adams County police officer who died on duty when a man crashed a pickup truck into his motorcycle. It now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
The proposal would give the court the discretion to add up to five years in prison to the sentence of anyone who kills an emergency responder, according to state Rep. Will Tallman, R-York/Adams, who sponsored the bill.
A judge could add up to two years to the prison sentence of someone convicted of seriously injuring an emergency responder or worker in an active construction zone.
Amendment: Tallman voted in favor of the bill, but said he is upset with an amendment that was added to allow trial lawyers to suggest the monetary amount given to clients for pain and suffering from crashes.
“I do not consider it germane to the bill,” he said. “It has nothing to do with my bill or legislative intent. I was thoroughly irritated.”
Tallman said he believes the amendment will be stripped out the bill in the Senate.
That amendment is what caused Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, to vote against its passage.
“It messed up a very good bill,” Miller said. “It’s irrelevant to this bill. It just made it a very bad bill.”
Besides Miller, Reps. Keith Gillespie, R-Springettsbury, and Scott Perry, R-Dillsburg, also voted against the bill. Reps. Eugene DePasquale, D-York City, Stan Saylor, R-Windsor, and Seth Grove, R-Dover, supported the proposal.
Safety law: Police officers, paramedics, firefighters and others are not covered under the Pennsylvania work zone safety law.
That law allows up to five years of prison time to be tacked on to a sentence if the driver is convicted of homicide by vehicle for a crash that occurred in an active work zone. The new bill will create a separate category for emergency responders that will allow for a similar penalty.
Tim Barker, York County chief deputy prosecutor, said the emergency responder bill is long overdue.
“It helps to better protect those individuals who perform their functions as emergency responders,” he said. “It is an absolutely a necessary provision. It was clearly an unfortunate hole in the legislation that definitely needed to be filled.”
Barker said he would have to prove to a jury beyond reasonable doubt that the individual killed met the definition of an emergency responder to get the maximum penalty for homicide by vehicle.
“It’s not just something that can be added on by a judge at sentencing,” he said. “And that is what makes this legislation constitutional. We have to prove it to a jury and beyond reasonable doubt.”
Cases: Latimore Township Police Sgt. Michael Weigand Jr. was on duty escorting a charity benefit ride when a York City man crashed his pickup truck into Weigand’s motorcycle.
Weigand was thrown from the motorcycle and pronounced dead at the scene. Earl Matthew Wright, 36, of 553 Clarke Ave., was sentenced to 16 to 60 months in prison.
The bill would not have an impact on the pending case involving Northern York County Regional Police Officer David Tome, Barker said.
“You can’t prosecute somebody for breaking the law that didn’t exist at the time the act was committed,” Barker said.
Tome, 31, was investigating a car crash on Route 15 in Franklin Township when he was struck and thrown from the road. Joanna L. Seibert, 38, of 28 Clemens Drive in Dillsburg, is free on unsecured bail and could go to trial in August.
She is charged with homicide by vehicle, tampering with evidence, reckless driving, careless driving and related offenses.
Tallman and Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, wrote the bill because several of Weigand’s relatives approached them about it. Tallman said he hopes the legislation will be passed in the Senate and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell this session.
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