Criminal homicide charge dismissed
CRANBERRY TWP — A charge of criminal homicide was dismissed Friday against a township man who was allegedly driving drunk and struck a cyclist, who later died.
District Judge David Kovach dropped the charge against David W. Lohr, 51, during a preliminary hearing Friday. Kovach held the remainder of the charges for court, including felony homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by a vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, misdemeanor DUI high rate of alcohol first offense, DUI general impairment of driving safely first offense and summary traffic offenses.
The charges were filed after an incident in which Lohr allegedly struck a bicycle being ridden by Aleksander Teimouri, 22, who was coming home from work.
During Friday's hearing, Cpl. Mike Marshall of the Cranberry Township Police Department testified that he and three other officers responded to the call at 11:39 p.m. Dec. 26 for a report of vehicle-bicycle accident on Rochester Road near Haine School Road.
He said upon arrival, he found Teimouri on the sidewalk, bleeding from the head. He said Teimouri was conscious, but not alert, and thus unable to speak. Marshall said Teimouri's cause of death is listed as blunt force trauma to the head.
Marshall said as EMS workers tended to Teimouri, he turned his attention to Lohr, who had pulled off the road into a nearby parking lot about 100 feet away. Lohr told officers he was traveling west along Rochester Road when he made contact with Teimouri's bike, Marshall said.
Marshall said Lohr's vehicle had heavy damage to the front passenger side, and the windshield had cracks in it. He added hair was found in the windshield, where officers believe Teimouri's head struck the vehicle.
Teimouri's bicycle was badly damaged, with the rear wheel folded in half, Marshall said. There also appeared to be marks and scrapes in the road where the bicycle was dragged along the pavement. Marshall said a reconstruction of the scene indicates Teimouri was riding beyond the “fog line” and was not in the road. He added that there did not appear to be brake marks or any indication that Lohr attempted to avoid Teimouri.
Marshall said he and other officers noticed the smell of alcohol on Lohr's breath, and Marshall performed three field sobriety tests, including a horizontal gaze test, a walk and turn and a single-leg stand. Marshall said Lohr was unable to complete the tests, and added there is dash cam video of the tests, although they do not have audio.
A subsequent blood test taken about an hour after the incident found Lohr's BAC was 0.141 percent, Marshall said. A blood-alcohol level of 0.08 is considered intoxicated under state law.
Under cross examination, Lohr's attorney, William Jones, questioned Marshall about witness statements, which Marshall said were gathered from a family of three who were following Lohr as he turned from Route 19 onto Rochester Road and saw the incident occur.According to Marshall, the witness who was driving said Lohr was traveling at a higher rate of speed than the witness's vehicle. The second witness, who was in the back seat, said she first noticed Lohr when the two vehicles were sitting next to each other waiting to turn onto Rochester Road. She said Lohr accelerated swiftly, then had to merge back into the witness's lane of traffic.The third witness, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, told police she believed Lohr's vehicle was to the extreme right of his lane before striking Teimouri, Marshall said.Jones also asked Marshall if it was normal for people to be riding a bicycle on that stretch of road at night. Marshall said that while it isn't an everyday occurrence, it is not completely uncommon. He added that Teimouri's bike had a flashing red light on the rear to alert motorists.Lohr remained silent throughout the hearing, and at times look visibly upset, his hands folded in his lap. After the hearing, Jones said Lohr is “struggling” with the events of that night, although not to the same degree as Teimouri's family. Terri Schultz, Butler County assistant district attorney, said the Teimouri family's anguish must be taken into account as the case proceeds.It's a horrible, horrible tragedy, no matter how we look at it, and I'm sure (it is) for both sides at this point,” she said.Schultz said the question of whether Lohr had intent on the night of accident led to the criminal homicide charge being dismissed, but she said the other charges are severe.“I think we have all of the other charges that are obviously more appropriate,” she said.Lohr remains free on $10,000 unsecured bond. A March 19 formal arraignment is scheduled.
