Bucks County prison guard charged with harassing inmates

Posted: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 

A suspended Bucks County prison guard is accused of sexually harassing inmates he oversaw including entering cells to watch inmates use the bathroom and reducing punishments in exchange for demeaning tasks such as slapping another inmate’s butt or exposing their genitals, according to a grand jury investigation.

Joseph Mullen, 28, of Lower Southampton, was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Mark Douple on misdemeanor charges of official oppression and harassment and released on $75,000 unsecured bail. The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Mullen for comment Wednesday, and no attorney of record was listed for him in court filings.

Joseph Mullen

Mullen, who has worked as a guard in Bucks since 2010, was suspended Wednesday from his position, but county spokesman Chris Edwards declined to say if he was on a paid suspension, saying it is a human resources matter.

“This type of conduct will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent when we discover it,” District Attorney David Heckler said in a news release announcing the arrest.

Prison Director William Plantier declined comment on the arrest Wednesday, citing pending criminal proceedings.

The alleged inappropriate behavior took place between July and September 2013, according to the Bucks County detectives who handled the investigation. Last year, the case was handed over to a grand jury, which recommended the filing of criminal charges.

Ten inmates testified in the closed-court proceedings about Mullen’s alleged vulgar and inappropriate behavior and comments, according to court papers. They claimed Mullen let them have “certain privileges” if they performed tasks such as exposing their genitals to him. They said the harassment got so bad they filed informal grievances known as “green slips.”

Court documents also state that two corrections officers testified before the grand jury that they were aware of the alleged actions or witnessed Mullen’s inappropriate behavior. One officer who worked with Mullen on D-block, or Delta, testified that she received “quite a few” complaints that Mullen wanted to strip search inmates, and that he was “selective” about enforcement of jail rules, court documents show.

One inmate, who had a TV inside his cell, appeared to experience the brunt of Mullen’s alleged harassment, court documents suggest. Other inmates on the block liked to gather in the man’s cell to watch TV, though it’s against prison rules for more than two inmates to be in a single cell at one time.

The inmate with the TV was punished on “numerous” occasions for breaking the two-inmate rule including several times by Mullen, authorities said. The typical punishment for the infraction is locking the prisoner in his cell for two hours, though guards can reduce the lock time, according to court documents.

On at least three occasions, the inmate testified that Mullen offered to release him early if he exposed his genitals to him. Another time when the inmate was caught watching TV with two inmates in his cell, Mullen locked them in, according to the testimony. But he released them after they complied with his order to play “patty cake” with each other and two men hugged, according to grand jury testimony.

The inmate with the TV — who was awaiting sentencing at the time — refused to file a complaint against Mullen after the incidents claiming he was embarrassed and feared retaliation, according to court documents. He claimed that the day after he was interviewed by investigators in connection with other inmate complaints against Mullen, he lost his job in the jail, authorities said.

The inmate did tell two people — his sister and a friend — about what was happening with Mullen, authorities said.

In a recorded conversation, the inmate told his friend that Mullen made him expose himself in order to avoid punishments and he complained Mullen constantly made sexual comments, asked inmates about homosexual situations and walked into his cell uninvited when he was using the bathroom and tried to engage him in conversation, court documents said.

The inmate also told his friend that his allegations would not be believed if he came forward because Mullen was a prison guard, and he was telling the friend in the event that he was injured in jail, court documents said. The inmate also wrote to his sister about that alleged sexual harassment and told her not to tell anyone about it.

Other inmates and a longtime county prison guard also claimed that Mullen visited inmate cells uninvited while they were using the bathroom and engaged them in sexual conversations, according to the grand jury.

Mullen also allegedly asked “numerous” inmates to subject themselves to strip searches — including two other D-block inmates who testified before the grand jury. The inmates claimed that strip searches were rarely conducted inside cell blocks and Mullen did not request a sergeant be present — which is procedure — for such searches.

Another time, Mullen also confiscated an inmate’s radio after he refused to provide Mullen with details about his past sexual experiences with a man, according to court papers. When the inmate filed a complaint, Mullen allegedly retaliated by locking him in his cell for no reason, the inmate told the grand jury.

In its presentment, the grand jury specifically noted that it could find no “legitimate” reason within the scope of Mullen’s job duties for him to stand inside inmate cells while they were using the bathroom and converse with them about any topic, including sexual ones.

“To the contrary, the only reason for Mullen to engage in this conduct was to harass, demean and humiliate the inmates involved,” according to the affidavit.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Cops: Promising jockey smoked pot before Bensalem break-ins 5 Comments

Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Bensalem police believe that a professional racehorse jockey was in a marijuana-induced haze when he allegedly went on a violent and half-naked crime spree that left him with life-threatening bullet wounds after breaking into two apartments.

Angel Suarez Medero, 21, was formally arraigned Tuesday at his hospital bedside where he has been since Dec. 28, when he was shot twice by a resident of one of the Franklin Commons apartments. Suarez Medero, who also lives in the complex with his girlfriend, faces felony burglary, criminal trespassing and related charges.

District Judge Leonard Brown set his bail at 10 percent of $250,000, but Suarez Medero remains hospitalized with liver and pancreas injures. He will remain under Bucks County prison guard watch until his discharge.

Angel Suarez Medero

The Courier Times was unsuccessful in reaching Suarez Medero’s attorney, William Goldman Jr., for comment Tuesday. Suarez Medero has been described as a promising jockey who races at Parx Racetrack in Bensalem, finishing in second place in the prestigious Eclipse Award for top apprentice jockey in 2012.

New details revealed in court documents outline the alleged trail of destruction that Suarez Medero blazed on Dec. 28 at the complex on the 1000 block of Bobolink Drive.

Suarez Medero’s girlfriend, also a professional racehorse jockey, told police that she was with him at their apartment earlier that day and that Suarez Medero was smoking marijuana during a trip to a nearby restaurant to pick up takeout food, according to a probable cause affidavit.

When the couple returned home, they had a “small argument” and Suarez Medero went into the bathroom, the girlfriend reportedly told police. When he came out, he was “acting off,” she said, according to the affidavit.

Suarez Medero’s mother told police that when her son left the bathroom he appeared to be having a “mental episode,” court documents show. The mother claimed he previously had a “mental episode” after smoking marijuana when they lived in Puerto Rico, police said.

A search warrant was executed at the couple’s Cardinal Drive apartment and police confiscated two small plastic bags containing what appeared to be marijuana on the nightstand drawer next to the bed, the affidavit said.

Bensalem police allege the rampage started shortly after 8:30 p.m. when a woman reported a man was standing on her second-floor balcony masturbating. As Nicole Donlen ran out of her apartment, she heard glass breaking and a man was running around the apartment she shared with her fiancé, police said.

When police arrived, they found the rear sliding glass door and rear bedroom window of the apartment broken and living room furniture overturned. Police later learned that Suarez Medero threw a chair through the sliding glass door and entered the apartment. They found fresh blood on the kitchen floor, bathroom door jamb and closet door.

While investigating the first call, officers received a report that a man was shot and being held at an apartment in the same building. The man who lived at the second apartment was on top of Suarez Medero and large amounts of blood dotted the living room and kitchen, according to court records.

The man told police that he and his wife were watching TV in the living room when they heard a banging from outside the rear of their apartment, court documents said. The wife opened the sliding glass door to investigate while the man retrieved his .45-caliber gun.

He then walked into the rear yard and was headed toward Donlen’s apartment when he saw Suarez Medero dive out of Donlen’s second floor window, police said.

Suarez Medero was wearing a white T-shirt and nothing else and had Donlen’s long-haired dachshund Ollie in his hand when he jumped, the man told police. As of Tuesday, Ollie remains missing, though he has been spotted in Bensalem and neighboring Bristol Township with the most recent sighting Sunday.

After he landed on the ground, Suarez Medero started in the man’s direction with his arms waving and talking “gibberish,” the affidavit said. Suarez Medero then entered the man’s apartment and grabbed his wife, who was standing in the kitchen, police said. The husband ran into the kitchen, confronted Suarez Medero and twice told him he had a gun.

The man fired the gun twice when Suarez Medero was running at him and wouldn’t stop, shooting him in the stomach area, court documents said.

But the bullets failed to stop him, police said, so the man grabbed Suarez Medero, took him to the ground and put him a headlock while his wife called 911. He held him like that until police arrived. The resident does not face any criminal charges in the shooting, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

Suarez Medero then struggled with police while they were attempting to take him into custody, taking three officers to handcuff him, according to police.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Police: Food, wallet & purse tie men to Bristol Twp. armed robberies

Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2015

On the witness stand the two men told similar stories about the night they and their friends were robbed at gunpoint roughly a half hour and 5 miles apart.

Jeremiah Longo recalled how one of the four robbers waved the gun around a lot, and pointed it at him after ordering him to empty his pockets including his smartphone and wallet. His girlfriend was ordered to hand over her pink XOXO purse.

Tyler James remembered at least three men — one with a gun — ordered him and his friends to sit on a bench at Indian Creek Park and empty their pockets. One suspect pressed a gun against his friend’s neck and, he believes, his neck as well.

But the most striking similarity between the stories the men told Tuesday at preliminary hearings for four Bristol Township men accused of robbing six people at gunpoint on Oct. 26 was neither man could provide a detailed description of the suspects.

Maurice Towner Jr. and Quashaad Rodney James, both 19, and Damaire Wallace and Terrell Laron Walker, both 18, are each charged with six counts each of felony robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and other related offenses in connection with the robberies.

Bristol Township police allege the four robbed Longo and his girlfriend shortly before 3 a.m. while they walked home to the Glen Hollow Apartments in the 1100 block of Newportville Road before getting inside a dark colored sports utility vehicle.

But Longo testified he couldn’t remember much beyond at least two of the men wore hoodie sweatshirts and the one with the gun had a dark-colored hoodie.

“I didn’t get a good look at them. I kept my eyes on my lady,” Longo added.

“You cannot identify any of these people,” attorney John Fioravanti said, motioning to the defendants.

“No,” Longo replied.

About a half hour after the first armed robbery, police say four people were robbed at gunpoint in the Indian Creek section of Bristol Township. The quartet was walking home after buying food at the Wawa on Emilie Road when they were approached by three men, James testified.

The men threatened to shoot the four if they moved from the park bench, James testified.

During the robbery, he heard what sounded like a punch and saw a friend holding his face in his hands, James said. He also saw a suspect hold a gun against his friend’s neck. James also testified he was punched in the head and an object — he believed was a gun — pressed against his neck.

The next thing he heard was running, James said. He looked up and the suspects were gone. The group immediately went to a home and called police.

But what eyewitnesses lacked in suspect detail, Bristol Township police made up for in evidence.

Bristol Township police Officer Dennis Leighton testified that not long after the second robbery, he pulled over a dark-colored car that matched a description broadcast over the Bucks County Radio Dispatch as involved in a robbery on Colonial Avenue. 
The location is about four miles from the Glen Hollow Apartments and three miles from Indian Creek.

Inside the car, the officer testified he saw a pink XOXO purse on the floor and a checkered men’s wallet in the rear of the vehicle. Both items were later identified as belonging to Longo and his girlfriend.

Bristol Township Detective William O’Keefe also testified that when he executed a search warrant on the car two days after the robberies, he found four breakfast sandwiches, two Sour Patch candy bags and pumpkin cannoli dip — the same food items that James testified he bought at the Wawa and the robbers took. O’Keefe also testified that he found a brown Airsoft pistol in the Ford Escape.

The attorneys representing the men, though, argued the charges against their clients should be dismissed citing the prosecution’s failure to prove any of their clients were involved in either robbery as well as other discrepancies.

“It comes down to identification, not mere participation,” attorney Louis Busico said. “You didn’t hear the word male, African American, white or black. It’s not enough.”

But Bucks County prosecutor Jonathan Long countered that evidence showed two armed robberies occurred the same day and that items from the robberies were found in the car the men were pulled over in.

“It’s not that much of a stretch your honor to think these guys did it,” Long added.

District Judge Joanne Kline agreed with the prosecutor, holding the four men for trial in Bucks County court on all charges. The defendants are all free after each posting 10 percent of $50,000 bail each.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Terrell Walker (far left), Maurice Towner Jr., Quashaad James, and Damaire Wallace (far right)

Greater personal responsibility, cost and collaboration in health world

Posted: Sunday, January 4, 2015

After 84-year-old Teresa Ward fell and broke her hip last year, the doctors warned her family they could expect her to live another six — maybe eight — months.

Such major medical setbacks typically accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, which Ward was diagnosed with at age 72, her daughter, Kathy Gainer, said. As expected, Ward soon stopped talking, slept too much, her weight dropped, and her need for 24-hour supervision was draining her 85-year-old husband.

But Gainer wasn’t ready to place her mother in a nursing home, where she was transferred during rehabilitation.

Last year she entered the LIFE at St. Mary program, a health care model designed to provide a coordinated and collaborative continuum of care for senior citizens that lets them remain in their homes. The individualized care plans can include a personal health aide who dresses and bathes participants, transportation, durable medical equipment, physical and occupational therapy, counseling, and caregiver respite.

Today, Ward is more active, happier and healthier though her Alzheimer’s continues to progress, Gainer said. Her father has more free time for errands, visiting friends, even napping without worrying about his wife.

“She is thriving. She smiles. He is happier because she is happier and she is safe,” Gainer said. “This is the best place to be putting our money for the elderly — for Medicare and Medicaid, this is what they should be doing.”

LIFE at St. Mary is among the health care trends that medical and health care experts anticipate will continue to grow in popularity in 2015, as more Americans experience closer ties with their physical health and financial well-being, and public and private employers continue to grapple with increasing medical costs while maintaining quality care, according to local health and medical experts.

A continued emphasis on disease prevention and management means Americans can expect to assume greater responsibility for the ongoing management of their health care while health services and providers will focus on a more “personalized” and extended approach to medicine.

Programs promoting wellness and healthy behaviors will become increasingly crucial as insurers and employers continue shifting more of the financial burden onto consumers in the form of higher out-of-pocket costs, coinsurance, narrow/tiered provider networks and deductibles. More employer-provided insurance plans will continue to discourage unhealthy behaviors with surcharges, such as for tobacco use, experts said.

The number of American workers with high-deductible insurance plans increased from 4 percent to 20 percent between 2006 and 2013, according to the American Hospital Association’s 2015 Environmental Scan. The average patient deductible has nearly doubled since 2006, and the typical plan deductible now exceeds the typical family’s available savings.

About 320,000 Pennsylvania residents obtained coverage through the federal health insurance marketplace during the first open enrollment period in 2014, said Andy Carter, president and chief executive officer of the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania, which advocates for the state’s hospitals. This year, the number is estimated to rise to 600,000, mostly through the state’s Healthy PA Medicaid expansion.

“More consumers than ever will be enrolled in health plans that have higher levels of out-of-pocket costs," Carter said. “Patients want and deserve to discuss financial obligations upfront, before receiving care. It’s an important part of improving their overall health care experience — another key trend for 2015.”

Population Health

The push to reduce health care spending and improve quality is reflected in a trend known as population health. The concept takes a pre-birth to death care continuum with a collaborative team approach for “treating a whole person in a whole life,” said Dr. Deirdre Donaghy, chief medical officer at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown.

Population health is an approach that aims at improving health and reducing health inequities in a specific group. The concept revolves around promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyles through regular, basic health care interactions that are free or affordable, such as general health screenings, health coaches, wellness programs, and programs that reward healthy behavior. Typically such programs work with insurers providing one general payout for care.

“Right now, we wait until people fall over and treat for illness,” she said.

LIFE at St. Mary, which started in 2011, is a small model of population health care targeting senior citizens, Donaghy said. The program established under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 is designed to address needs of long-term care clients, providers and payers. Most participants are Medicare-Medicaid eligible and providers receive a monthly preset payment, which is used to provide services and care.

Participants received comprehensive health and social services overseen by an interdisciplinary team with St. Mary's affiliated providers overseeing all aspects of medical care.

Another patient care model that borrows from the population health concept targets specific hard-to-manage chronic diseases, Donaghy said. These high-risk patients are connected with more community services, including telemedicine monitoring, care managers and home care in an effort to reduce hospital readmissions, she said.

St. Mary has such a program in place for patients with congestive heart failure, with plans to expand it to include patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Donaghy said.

Philadelphia regional health providers are already seeing the effects of greater prevention efforts, said Carter of the hospital association. He attributed the greater use of routine, preventative and outpatient care as driving a downward trend in hospital admissions. Inpatient volumes across the five-county region fell more than 13 percent between 2007 and 2013 — from 708,000 discharges to about 613,000.

“This push toward health and wellness is one of the factors behind the many mergers and partnerships underway in southeastern Pennsylvania,” Carter added.

Mergers and Collaboration

Nationally — and locally — independent health care providers are moving toward mergers to create diverse and financially stable health care systems offering a wide variety of services. The partnerships are particularly beneficial for small hospitals looking to expand in expensive, but high-demand, services such as heart, orthopedics and cancer treatment, experts said.

A local example of such an institutional collaboration is the pending merger announced in October between Abington Health, which has two hospitals and other health care services in Montgomery County, and Jefferson, the Philadelphia medical university and hospital, which would create one the region’s largest health care providers.

The trends collaboration and continuum of care is also happening in the emergency medical services field, according to Dr. Gerald Wydro, regional medical director for the Bucks County Emergency Health Services.

Last year Bucks County EMS joined the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival program through the University of Pennsylvania, a national program designed to improve survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Bucks County rescue squads responded to 334 cardiac arrest calls in 2014, up from 310 the year before, according to Bucks County Emergency Services data.

As part of the program, the county has undertaken a dramatic change in how emergency dispatch operators — the first link in the emergency health care chain — respond to 911 calls involving possible cardiac arrest, Wydro said. They are trained to recognize cardiac arrest signs faster and get callers to start hands-only CPR quicker, actions that can save lives until emergency responders arrive.

Dispatchers now ask fewer, but more targeted questions to determine if a person is in cardiac arrest. They are also trained to recognize specific distressed breathing patterns and even count chest compressions with the caller to keep them focused on continuing CPR until emergency responders arrive, Wydro said.

“We used to ask (callers) if they want to perform CPR,” he added said. “Now we don’t even ask.”

While the hard data isn't expected to be available until next year, anecdotal information suggests that since implementing the new 911 intake call procedures EMS services have seen improvements in cardiac arrest patients arriving at the hospital with a pulse, Wydro said.

As scientists develop a better understanding of the role genetics play in many chronic health problems, health care is continuing to move toward a precision-based model, which has the potential to transform health care and other industries, experts said.

Injecting itself into the personalized medicine trend is the use of mobile information and communication technologies — better known as mHealth. It will be a major tool in the drive toward improving personal health and remotely monitoring chronic illnesses and acute conditions, experts anticipate.

Among ongoing mHealth initiatives are the National Cancer Institutes of Health SmokeFreeTXT program, a smoking cessation service for teens and young adults, and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s TXTTots, a public text messaging library that provides information on nutrition and physical activity to parents and caregivers of children age 5 and younger.

Other technology-driven initiatives in the Philadelphia region are expected to make it easier for doctors and hospitals to share information about patients.

One initiative — the HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania — is connecting the region’s many hospitals and other health care providers, so they all have access to the latest information about hospitalizations, follow-up care, medications, and other aspects of patients’ care — even when patients are being treated by different doctors at different health systems, said Martin Ciccocioppo, vice present of research for the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania.

“In 2015, look for HealthShare Exchange to lay the groundwork for new, query-based technology that will be even more effective in helping providers prevent errors and avoid unnecessary or duplicative medical tests, lab work, and imaging studies,” he said.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Police standoff with heavily armed man in Bristol Township ends peacefully

Posted: Saturday, January 3, 2015 

An 8-hour standoff with a heavily armed Bristol Township man who barricaded himself in his home with his 89-year-old frail mother and about 30 loaded weapons ended peacefully early Saturday morning, police said.

Bristol Township police along with Bucks County South and Central SWAT teams converged on the home on Ice Pond Road on Friday night after receiving reports that a 58-year-old man threatened to kill family members and neighbors if his mother died. Neighbors in the Indian Creek section received automated calls warning them to shelter in place during the standoff and authorities evacuated seven nearby homes, according to court records.

Family members came to Bristol Township police around 5:30 p.m. Friday to report increasingly threatening behavior exhibited by Lawrence Rouse, who lives with his mother who has dementia and reportedly is in need of hospice care, according to Acting Chief Ralph Johnson.

Lawrence Rouse

Rouse had become increasingly distant with his siblings, limiting their ability to check on their mother, Johnson said.

The family reported that Rouse told them when his mother dies, he is going to shoot a neighbor and kill family members as well, police said. The threats have grown increasingly worse over the past few weeks, and he has allegedly talked in detail about how he planned on killing everyone.

With the mother facing hospice care, and their observations of his increasing paranoia, family members feared Rouse may act on his threats if his mother died, adding that he has a large collection of guns in the house.

Investigating officers took a statement from family members and helped them obtain an involuntary mental health commitment. But when officers went to serve the commitment at the home around 9:30 p.m., there was no answer.

When police made contact with Rouse, he refused to come out and warned police he was “locked and loaded” if they forced their way in, court documents said.

The SWAT teams responded, secured the location, safely evacuated surrounding homes, made contact with Rouse and negotiations continued throughout the night, Johnson said.

Around 5:30 a.m. SWAT team members pulled Rouse through a window that was broken by police during the standoff and subdued him, court documents said. He was taken to a mental health center for treatment and was arrested after he was released.

Detectives searched the man’s home and seized approximately 30 loaded weapons from several gun safes.

District Judge Michael Burns arraigned Rouse Saturday afternoon on terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest charges and related offenses. Rouse was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $500,000 bail.

SWAT doctors and medics assisted Rouse’s mother, who was unharmed, before being transported to a hospital for further evaluation and treatment, police said.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Police: Bensalem teen charged in pedestrian death failed to clear windshield

Posted: Friday, January 2, 2015 

An 18-year-old Bensalem driver accused of striking and killing a Bensalem teen last month as she walked to her stopped school bus was driving a 30-year-old unregistered, uninsured truck with counterfeit inspection stickers that was in such poor condition that it would “fall apart” if driven beyond 60 mph, court documents state.

Michael Shelly was arraigned Friday before District Judge Leonard Brown on a long list of charges including homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and other offenses. Shelley was sent to Bucks County prison after Brown set his bail at 10 percent of $500,000, over the objections of defense attorney Stanton Lacks.

“Somebody is dead,” Brown replied. “Someone has to learn you don’t go through flashing lights at a bus stop.”

Michael Shelly

In court documents, Bensalem police blamed Shelly’s failure to clear his front windshield and rear windows before operating his 1984 Ford Bronco II as a contributing factor in the Dec. 17 accident that killed 16-year-old Minete Zeka. After the accident, Shelly told police that his vehicle defrosters were broken and he cleared only a small section of windshield to see out the front of the truck, according to a probable cause affidavit.

“I had basically tunnel vision because I only had a small area to see out of the front,” Shelly said, according to the affidavit. “My side windows were fogged up.”

Minete, a Bensalem High School sophomore, was one of five children crossing in a marked crosswalk on Bensalem Boulevard at Bridgewater Road when she was struck, Bensalem Director of Public Safety Fred Harran said at a press conference before the arraignment. No other children were injured.

Shelly stopped after hitting Minete, added police, who found him sitting on a curb near the accident and his damaged truck.

“I think I killed her,” Shelly said, according to the affidavit.

A subsequent investigation determined that the school bus was stopped in the southbound lane of Bensalem Boulevard just before the northernmost crosswalk with its red warning lights flashing and side STOP arm and yellow crossing arms were extended, according to court documents.

The school bus driver told police he activated the flashing lights 200 feet before stopping at the crosswalk at Bridgewater Road. The red flashing lights were activated for about 30 seconds before the driver heard the bang, police said.

Four high school students began to cross the road while one entered the bus from the right side of the road, the driver said, according to police. While that student was entering the bus, the driver saw another student jump in the crosswalk and he heard a bang and saw a coffee cup flying in the air, court documents said.

Shelly claimed he was driving to Bucks County Technical High School, which he attends, when the accident happened shortly after 6:30 a.m., according to police. His front windshield defrosters stopped working over the summer, so he cleaned off a 1-foot by 1-foot section of the windshield so he could see out of the front of the truck, the affidavit said.

As Shelly drove, he continued clearing off the condensation with a T-shirt, court documents show. He claimed that before the accident he last wiped the windshield at Route 13 and Bensalem Boulevard, about a half mile from the accident scene, court documents said.

After the accident, police noticed condensation to the point of obstructing the driver’s view had built up inside the Bronco, according to the affidavit.

As Shelly approached the intersection of Bensalem Boulevard and Bridgewater Road, he claimed he saw the school bus with yellow lights flashing, he said. He continued driving through the intersection and saw the red lights on the bus as the accident happened, hitting his brakes when he saw a kid run across the front of his truck, he said.

The posted speed limit on that part of Bensalem Boulevard is 40 mph. Crossing guards don’t arrive at the intersection until 7 a.m., police said, because they aren’t usually on duty for high school students.

A registered nurse performed cardio pulmonary resuscitation on the injured girl at the scene before she was transported to Aria Health Torresdale campus in Philadelphia, where she was pronounced dead, court documents said.

At the news conference announcing the arrest, Harran repeatedly refused to discuss the condition of Shelly's vehicle or if it was properly registered calling it a matter for trial.

But court documents state that in addition to the broken defrosters the truck had other problems including a broken speedometer and a clogged heater port. The truck also has oversized tires that slide in the rain and the license plate belongs to a Grand Prix owned by Shelly, police said.

Among the criminal charges that Shelly faces are summary offenses for driving an unregistered vehicle, displaying a fictitious inspection sticker and operating a vehicle without insurance.

Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be an issue in the accident, Harran said, but he declined to comment on whether distracted driving was a factor. Harran also stated there is no problem with the infrastructure of Bensalem Boulevard.

“Any road is a problem when the driver isn’t paying attention,” Harran added. “This could have been avoided.”

Following the arraignment, Lacks said he'll seek a bail reduction before Bucks County Court, stating that Shelly has no prior criminal record and attends high school in Bristol Township. He added that his client “feels terrible about the whole situation.”

Friends of Shelly who attended the arraignment declined comment afterward.

If convicted of vehicular manslaughter, Shelly faces a potential seven-year maximum sentence in state prison; involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

The accident scene is roughly one mile from where 17-year-old Ryan Viola was struck and killed while crossing Bensalem Boulevard at Portside Drive in a crosswalk to get to his school bus stop in November 2012. The driver in that accident wasn’t criminally charged with Ryan’s death because she had the green light.

In October, Viola’s parents filed a federal wrongful death suit, alleging a faulty traffic signal, the lack of a school crossing guard and the location of the bus stop all contributed to the teen’s death. The suit is still working its way through the system.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

New York man wants hearing on Pocono triple fatal charges

Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Northampton resident Ed Lesher had a simple message for the New York man he holds responsible for his son Ryan’s death.

“Man Up Michael Ware” was written on a poster board that he took into a Pocono Mountains courtroom Tuesday for the first court appearance of Ware, 53, of Scarsdale.

Ware is accused of allowing his then-15-year-old daughter to drive his 2001 Chevy Suburban, which was involved in a rollover accident that killed three Council Rock South High School students and seriously injured a fourth over Labor Day weekend.

Ed Lesher makes his feelings known /photo Journal News

In the brief appearance in Wayne County Central Court, Ware requested a preliminary hearing on the charges he faces — three counts of involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, false reports and other offenses. He left the courthouse through a back door, free on $100,000 unsecured bail. The hearing will be scheduled at a later date before District Judge Bonnie Carney, according to Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards.

His defense attorney, Robert Reno, on Tuesday called the DA’s charges against his client — who pleaded not guilty — “rather overreaching.”

“I think it’s a novel theory of criminal responsibility here,” Reno added. “It seems to be a hybrid between civil and criminal liability.”

The Aug. 30 fatal accident in Paupack Township took the lives of Cullen Keffer, Shamus Digney and Ryan Lesher, all 15 and of Northampton, and seriously injured Ryan Keim, also 15. The boys were riding in the SUV with Ware’s daughter, Julia Ware, and her 15-year-old friend when it went out of control and flipped.

Court documents allege that Ware twice gave Julia permission to take his SUV the morning of the fatal accident — the second time Julia and her friend picked up the four boys and were driving to a nearby barbecue restaurant. The boys were staying at the Lesher family’s vacation home, which is around the corner from Ware’s vacation home in the Lake Wallenpaupack Estates resort.

After his daughter was involved in the fatal crash, which investigators attribute to speeding, Ware allegedly lied to Pennsylvania State Police about not giving his daughter permission to drive.

Michael Ware /Journal News

Michael Ware appeared at the accident scene on Goosepond Road shortly afterward and told state police that he was in the house cleaning when his daughter took the SUV without his knowledge, according to court documents. Initially, Julia and her friend and front seat passenger Rebecca Kelly, also 15, of Westchester, New York, backed up Ware’s story, but both later recanted, the court documents show.

Witnesses who live near the accident scene told investigators they heard boys’ voices yelling “slow down” in the moments before the rollover accident, the records show. Ryan Keim reportedly later told state police that Julia was “flying” and he and his friends told her to “slow down.”

Julia Ware, of Pleasantville, New York, who turned 16 earlier this month, has also been charged as a juvenile in connection with the accident. The Wayne County DA has not released any information about Julia’s charges citing state juvenile law. More information about Julia’s charges might become public if she is adjudicated in juvenile court — the equivalent of being guilty in adult court.

Ed Lesher continues to believe Julia Ware should be charged as an adult. He added prosecutors have given the families little information about her case.

“She acted like a big girl,” he said. “She knew what she was doing and she knew that she was wrong.”

Michael Ware’s court appearance on Tuesday was the first time that Ed Lesher laid eyes on Ware.

Lesher with his son and a friend waited silently outside the courtroom with photos of Ryan and the homemade poster with its “Man Up” message.

“He saw me. I did what I wanted to do. I showed him my face. Now we know each others’ eyes,” Lesher said. “We just have to sit back and wait. We got in his head. I’m not going nowhere until I get justice for my son and the three boys.”

Until then, his poster will stand in a second-floor window of his vacation home, Lesher said.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Photo collage of Ryan Lesher/ Journal News