Lawyer charges police investigation seriously flawed

Investigation into 2005 fatal crash reopened

By FRITZ MAYER

HAMLIN, PA — Did Dean O’Halloran receive special treatment from the police because he was the stepson of an officer? That’s a question a lawyer wants answered.

On April 15, 2005, at 9:15 a.m., then 22-year-old Dean O’Halloran crossed a double yellow line and crashed his vehicle into another one being driven by Diane Glynn, a mother of three. The accident on Route 509 near Hamlin killed Glynn.

At the time, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) officer who investigated the accident did not seek a sobriety or blood-alcohol test.

On February 21 of this year, Mark Tanner, a lawyer handling a lawsuit for Glynn’s estate, wrote a letter to the PSP, the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the Wayne County District Attorney. Tanner wrote that at the time of the accident, a witness reported that O’Halloran’s car had been weaving before the accident. He further wrote that the PSP officer, who investigated the accident, was informed about the weaving, but still did not seek a blood alcohol test.

“Luckily, hospital personnel themselves requested blood-alcohol testing on Mr. O’Halloran,” Tanner wrote. The test showed that O’Halloran’s blood alcohol level was 0.149 percent more than two hours after the accident, which was well above the legal limit of 0.8 percent.

Tanner further wrote that O’Halloran had a previous DUI charge against him and, remarkably in Tanner’s view, he had been involved in a separate accident on the date in question just three hours before the fatal crash. That one was a hit and run accident in Lackawanna County, which was also investigated by PSP.

The civil suit, pursued by Tanner, also revealed that after the fatal crash, but before the PSP arrived on the scene, O’Halloran called his step-father, PSP Corporal Michael McTavish from his cell phone, and a short time later, when asked about alcohol consumption, O’Halloran invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Tanner told reporters that either the investigation was extremely “inept” or he got “special treatment” from the PSP.

Wayne County District Attorney Michael Lehutsky responded with a letter explaining the actions of the investigating officers. He said after the crash, the original PSP officer had obtained information about the alleged weaving, and that the officer who interviewed O’Halloran in the ambulance “did not observe any indicators of alcohol or drug use.” Lehutsky said further that ambulance personnel and a witness, who spoke with O’Halloran after the crash, did not perceive any signs of intoxication.

Lehutsky said that while weaving could indicate intoxication, it could also indicate “sleep deprivation, distracted driving, talking on a cell phone or other things.”

Thus the weaving alone did not provide the probable cause needed to subpoena O’Halloran’s medical records.

PSP officials said Tanner’s letter has been turned over to the Department of Internal Affairs to determine if an internal investigation is called for.

The civil lawsuit resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement, which will go to the children of Glynn, two of whom were placed in foster care after the accident. Still, Tanner believes they’re entitled to an explanation about the investigation of O’Halloran.

Tanner wrote, “As far as I can tell, he did not even receive a traffic ticket.”

Glynn worked as a reporter and copyeditor for The River Reporter in 2002.