State police on Thursday arrested a Pennside man on third-degree homicide in addition to vehicular murder costs following an almost 10-month investigation of a multivehicle rush-hour crash early this yr that claimed the lifetime of a 61-year-old girl on Route 12 in Ruscombmanor Township.
Matthew Pekuri, 45, previously of Shoemakersville, was taken into custody with out incident. He was taken to the central processing middle to await arraignment.
The Jan. 16 crash that killed Wanda L. Matuszak of Ruscombmanor occurred about 6:40 a.m. within the 3600 block of Pricetown Highway (Route 12) within the space of Glenview Drive, simply west of Route 662. It concerned 4 autos.
Matuszak died on the scene. In accordance with her obituary, she was a registered nurse at Studying Hospital for 40 years and in 2019 was awarded the hospital’s Division of Medication Nursing Collaboration Award for Nursing Excellence.
Witnesses reported the automobile pushed by Pekuri dashing eastbound on Route 12, and passing autos in a no-passing zone, state police stated.
Pekuri was severely injured within the crash, officers stated.
In a launch Thursday, troopers stated solely that Pekuri was the at-fault driver.
The costs had been filed at District Choose Steven M. Chieffo’s workplace in Oley and an arrest warrant was issued.
Moreover murder they embrace reckless driving, careless driving, disregard of site visitors lane, passing the place prohibited and recklessly endangering one other individual.
The crash investigation concerned quite a few items from the state police, together with the collision evaluation and reconstruction specialist unit, or CARS, and the forensic service and felony investigation unit, in addition to the Berks County district lawyer’s workplace.
District Legal professional John T. Adams stated he authorised the third-degree submitting together with the vehicular murder cost after reviewing the crash reconstruction report. He stated troopers estimated Pekuri was touring a minimum of 91 mph on the two-lane, busy street on the time of the crash.
“Not solely was he going quick, however he was additionally by his actions endangering anybody on the freeway that day as a result of he was weaving out and in of site visitors,” Adams stated. “He was a hazard to the driving public that day, and it price Wanda Matuszak her life.”
