News

November 20, 2009

Man charged in deliberate crash arraigned

Police say Harry Teel Jr. tried to kill a woman passenger by slamming his truck into a barrier.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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SWOYERSVILLE – A Wilkes-Barre man was arraigned Thursday on charges that he tried to kill his girlfriend in July by intentionally crashing his truck.

Police allege Harry Teel Jr. was fighting with Rose Hilburn in his truck when drove across the 109th Field Artillery Bridge at a high rate of speed, ran through a red traffic signal and crashed into a concrete barrier and embankment.

Hilburn, 40, of Plymouth, suffered a broken back and jaw, police said.

Teel, 61, said during the hearing before District Judge David Barilla that he is still being treated for injuries from the crash on Route 11 in Larksville on July 12. Teel had been hospitalized and he was released last week from a nursing home.

Teel, who entered the hearing with the aid of a walker, surrendered with his attorney, Donald P. Dolan, on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, making terroristic threats and three traffic violations. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Larksville police officer Michael P. Thomas:

Hilburn told police Teel picked her up at her Plymouth home in his Toyota Tacoma. As they were driving across the bridge toward Hanover Township, Hilburn said, they began to argue about Teel’s use of drugs the day before.

Teel pulled into the parking lot of a candy distributor on West End Road in Hanover Township where a witness, Francesca Gawat, noticed them arguing in the truck. Gawat stopped nearby in an attempt to write down the truck’s license plate number and call police.

Teel pulled out of the parking lot, spinning the wheels, and sped away at high speed on West End Road toward the bridge.

A second witness, John Davis Jr., told police that he was driving across the bridge at about 40 mph when a truck passed him as if he was standing still. Davis said truck’s driver swerved to avoid a vehicle stopped at the intersection with Route 11, crashed through a concrete barrier and traveled up a steep embankment about 30 feet before it rolled backwards to the roadway.

Davis said he never saw the truck’s brake lights come on and the driver did not attempt to stop.

Hilburn was pulled from the vehicle by a passer-by and found by police on the ground. She allegedly told police, the criminal complaint says, Teel told her “(Expletive) this, I am just going to kill you.” Hilburn said that Teel stated as he sped across the bridge that, “You’re going to die.”

Hilburn estimated Teel’s truck was traveling at more than 100 mph across the bridge.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Dec. 10 before Barilla.

Edward Lewis, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7196.

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