News

July 15, 2008

Charges unlikely in death

Official sees no action being taken in accident that killed skateboarder.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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NANTICOKE – No charges will be filed at this time in the death of skateboarder Paul Drozdowski.

According to Michael Vough, a Luzerne County assistant district attorney, the investigation is ongoing, but there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of gross negligence on the driver’s part.

“State police are conducting tests and taking measurements, but it doesn’t appear that we will be filing any charges,” Vough said. “The car was traveling well under the speed limit and the victim voluntarily attached himself to the vehicle and fell off.”

Drozdowski, 19, was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. Saturday at Community Medical Center in Scranton, where he was flown on Friday after the accident, said Lackawanna County Deputy Coroner Tim Rowland.

Rowland said Drozdowski died of traumatic brain injury and the manner of death was ruled accidental. No autopsy was performed because Drozdowski was an organ donor, he said.

Nanticoke police said the accident occurred in the Greater Nanticoke Area High School parking lot.

Drozdowski lived on Loomis Street in Nanticoke and was employed as a landscaping assistant by Walter’s Landscaping. He was a 2008 graduate of Greater Nanticoke Area High School.

Drozdowski’s obituary appears on Page 6A.

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