News

January 6, 2010

State police release time logs for Muroski crash

By Ed Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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A state police trooper apparently just missed Luzerne County Senior Judge Chester Muroski at an accident scene on state Route 115 Monday night, according to a time log released by state police at Wyoming on Wednesday.

Trooper Tom Kelly, community services unit, said a state trooper arrived at Muroski's wrecked 2007 Mercedes Benz at 8:44 p.m., and that the state police barracks received a phone call from Muroski at 9:01 p.m.

The time logs appear to support Muroski's claim that he waited next to his vehicle for state police for 10 to 20 minutes before he was given a ride to his Bear Creek Village home where he called the state police at Wyoming.

Muroski said he lost control of his vehicle that slid on ice and off the roadway colliding into two mail boxes and ended up in a drainage ditch just before 8:30 p.m.

Muroski said prior to the accident, he drank "one, maybe two drinks" at Bistro on the Avenue, a restaurant on Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, where he stayed for about 10 minutes. Prior to going to the restaurant, Muroski conducted the swearing-in ceremony for Courtdale Mayor Dorothy Duesler at the Courtdale Municipal Building.

Kelly said the investigation is continuing with the possibility that summary citations may be filed.

Muroski said Wednesday that he is cooperating with state police. He insisted that he was not intoxicated.

Muroski has been scrutinized, mostly on local radio talk shows, about the accident, him having one or two drinks and him leaving before a state police trooper arrived at the crash scene.

Muroski said he was given a ride home by a passer-by, Adam Swartwood, after he was unable to wait for a state police trooper in cold temperatures.

According to the National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y., the average temperature on Monday for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region was 17 degrees.

Kelly said it appears Muroski followed proper procedure when an accident involves damage to unattended property.

"The law requires a duty to call us within a reasonable amount of time when there is an accident to unattended property," Kelly said. "In this case, (Muroski) called us and notified us to what happened."

The unattended property, Kelly explained, would be the mail boxes.

Procedures to notify state police and wait for a trooper to arrive would be different if someone was injured or if a second vehicle was involved, Kelly said.

Bear Creek Fire Chief John Krumsky said 911 did indeed dispatch emergency responders around 8:30 p.m., but were canceled when the first emergency responder arrived at the crash scene and reported no injuries.

"The first responder, my officer, reported a one vehicle accident off the roadway and no injuries," Krumsky said. "We were basically canceled at that point not to respond because there were no injuries and the car was off the roadway."

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