A witness in the case against Paul Morrisroe was seriously injured in a bizarre accident Tuesday morning on U.S. Route 6 in Liberty Township.
Kane-based state police said a mid-size pick-up truck driven by Louis Sean Bacha, 53, of Crosby, was traveling west on Route 6 while a tractor-trailer was driving east. As the two passed each other, on a slight grade and right curve, a huge chunk of ice from the roof of the tractor-trailer slid off and flew through the windshield of Bacha’s truck.
The truck veered off the road and came to rest in a field near North Brooklynside Road. Bacha suffered severe injuries and was transported to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, N.Y., for medical treatment, police said.
Trooper Ryan Marcinko, the investigator in the crash, is also a witness in the Morrisroe case.
Marcinko explained police do not believe the driver of the tractor-trailer knew what had happened.
“A witness said it must have been a ten-foot chunk of ice,” Marcinko told The Era. “Fragments that were left on the road were about three or four inches thick.”
Bacha had testified at the preliminary hearing in the fatal hit-and-run case against Morrisroe that he had seen Morrisroe driving his truck in the time leading up to the fatal crash. While police forensic evidence allegedly shows Morrisroe was the driver, Bacha is the only witness who came forward to say Morrisroe was driving.
Morrisroe, 40, of Marshburg, is facing charges including homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana for the June 2, 2015, hit-and-run crash on Route 646 in Cyclone which caused the death of Dakota Heinaman, 20.
Court records said Morrisroe was driving a full-sized pick-up truck when he struck a motorcycle driven by Heinaman. Morrisroe allegedly left the scene, driving his truck — without a passenger side front tire — back to his home on Sunny Lane in Marshburg. Police allegedly followed a pavement groove from the scene of the crash to Morrisroe’s garage, where his truck was parked inside.
Marcinko was one of the troopers who responded to Morrisroe’s garage, according to court records.
A trial in the case is scheduled to begin Jan. 17 in Venango County. There was no immediate word as to what impact, if any, Bacha’s injury would have on scheduling in the trial.
