Donald Haney Jr.’s five-lane U-turn across Carlisle Pike earlier this year sent two state troopers responding to a car chase to the hospital with various facial and spinal fractures, according to police.
Police this week charged a truck driver with aggravated assault with a vehicle for attempting to make a U-turn in the path of an unmarked police cruiser blaring its sirens on the Carlisle Pike, according to court documents.
Haney Jr., of York, blocked all five lanes of Carlisle Pike on May 19, when state troopers Kaleb Reitz and Clay Forcey were racing down the highway to intercept three men who were later charged with retail theft.
Haney Jr. frequently made that U-turn when traveling on his delivery route from Groff Tractor & Equipment on Carlisle Pike to his next stop in Carlisle, police said.
He turned right onto Carlisle Pike, headed toward Mechanicsburg, and used the intersection at Taylor Boulevard to make a U-turn to go west toward Carlisle for his next delivery, according to state police.
But when Haney Jr. tried to make the same U-turn on May 19, the troopers’ vehicle smashed into the rear-end of his freightliner, police said.
The collision, which police called “unavoidable,” resulted in the cruiser being crushed. Fire department members had to cut off the cruiser’s roof to remove the troopers, police said.
Reitz, who drove the unmarked cruiser, suffered extensive bone fractures and cuts on his face, as well as a broken left arm, police said. Forcey suffered a fracture along the top of his spine, at his neck, which required significant therapy and rehabilitation, according to police.
Both are still recovering, according to Trooper Megan Frazer. Hopefully they will be back to full duty and fully recovered soon, Frazer said.
Reitz and Forcey were rushing to intercept Latrell White, Julien Fleury and Terrence Caton, all accused of retail theft, who fled Carlisle Borough Police after trying to leave the Home Depot on South Hanover Street with $4,000 worth of electrical appliances.
In addition to aggravated assault, police charged Haney, Jr. with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, failing to stop at a stop sign, and making an unsafe U-turn.
Haney, Jr. is scheduled to appear before District Judge Kathryn Silcox Aug. 29 for a preliminary hearing. No bail has been set.
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