Phone use alleged in fatal crash

LDNews.com:

A North Londonderry Township woman has been charged with hom icide by vehicle as a result of a crash in Dauphin County that police say occurred while she was using her cell phone.
The victim of the crash, Carolyn Henry of Harrisburg, was an award- winning reading teacher at Harris burg High School.

Dijor M. Boykin, 20, of 196 Oxford Road, North Londonderry Town ship, was charged Wednesday by Susquehanna Township police in Henry's death. Boykin was also charged with several related traffic violations including reckless driving and speeding.

Boykin was arraigned and posted $5,000 bail, Dauphin County Assis tant District Attorney Fran Chardo said Thursday.

The case represents the first in Dauphin County in which a driver who was using a cell phone faces criminal charges, Chardo said.

"We can't pinpoint at the moment of impact that she was text ing," Chardo said, but the affidavit of probable cause said investigators determined Boykin had been send ing and receiving text messages and was "engaged in active telephone calls at the approximate time of impact."

Even more distressing: "She was cited for the very same condition one week before," Chardo said.

On June 2, three days before the fatal crash, Boykin was "observed driving her car dangerously and erratically while using her cellular tele phone on Interstate 81," the affidavit said.

Trooper Joshua Mack as serted that Boykin was "text ing or doing some other activitywith her cell phone and cut off a marked PSP ve hicle."
Then on June 5, Boykin was traveling west on Union Deposit Road when the fatal crash occurred.

According to the court document, she told police her vehicle wandered over the center median to her left. When she corrected to the right, she noticed another ve hicle on her right and then recorrected to the left, with her vehicle entering the center median. When her ve hicle ran over the center median, she lost control, and her vehicle struck Henry's ve hicle head-on about 9:57 p.m. The location was 3117 Union Deposit Road.

Henry, who was trapped in her vehicle, was freed by emergency personnel and was transported to Hershey Medical Center. Susquehanna Township police were noti fied at 12:32 a.m. June 6 that Henry had died.

In a follow-up interview with state police after cell- phone records were exam ined, Boykin "was unsure whether she was using her cellular telephone at the time of the impact," the affidavit said. "However the defendant admitted that it could have been a contributing factor to the accident."

Chardo said the standard minimum sentencing range for homicide by vehicle is three to 12 months, with a maximum of seven years.

"This is a manslaughter case," Chardo said. "There are consequences. This involved negligent conduct, not an intentional act."

The fatal crash was the second in which Boykin was involved, The Patriot News reported Thursday. In 2006, 18-year-old Maria De Los An geles Rivera Cruz of Steelton was killed when a car driven by Boykin struck a pole on South Cameron Street in Har risburg when Boykin fell asleep at the wheel, the news paper said. No charged were filed in that crash, according to the newspaper.