State police charge Venango Township man in crash that killed motorcyclist near Edinboro

A motorcyclist was attempting to pass a pickup truck in a passing zone along Route 99 in Washington Township in August 2023 when the truck turned left, causing a collision that led to the motorcyclist's death, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.

The driver of the truck stopped, but never got out of his vehicle to check on the motorcyclist before he drove off and didn't report his involvement in the accident until the next day, an investigating trooper alleges in the criminal complaint filed against the man.

The accused driver, 73-year-old Douglas B. Willey, is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 19 for a preliminary hearing on a felony count of accidents involving death or personal injury and summary counts of improper signaling and careless driving-unintentional death.

State police filed the charges on July 1 in the Aug. 19 accident that caused the death of Dustin Koszarek, 30, of Erie. A lawyer for Willey was not listed on his criminal docket sheet.

More: Three killed in spate of traffic crashes, 2 involving motorcycles, in Erie region

Fatal crash near Edinboro

The accident was reported on Aug. 19 at about 3:40 p.m. in the 10700 block of Route 99, north of Woodbriar Way. According to state police, Koszarek was driving a Suzuki motorcycle north and was attempting to pass a northbound Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck in a legal passing one when the truck turned left, hitting the motorcycle.

Willey pulled his truck to the berm and Koszarek came to rest in the road in front of the truck, according to information in the affidavit of probable cause filed with the criminal complaint against Willey. Willey remained on scene for about three minutes but stayed in his vehicle and did not attempt to render aid, identify himself or exchange information with anyone at the scene, the investigating trooper wrote in the affidavit.

State police said Willey then left the scene heading south on Route 99 to Old State Road and then Hamilton Road before a witness lost sight of the vehicle.

Koszarek was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Erie County Coroner's Office.

According to the affidavit, Willey contacted state police in Girard at about 9:20 a.m. on Aug. 20 and said he was operating the Dodge Ram at the time of the crash. When state police interviewed Willey later that morning, he said he was attempting to turn left into a driveway and heard the motorcycle beside him, but it was too late, the investigating trooper wrote in the affidavit.

Willey said he was going to get out of his truck but didn't, and told state police another man got off his bike and came up to the vehicle, yelling toward Willey, and Willey said he was terrified and left the scene, according to information in the affidavit.

After the crash, investigators allege, Willey drove to a garage, concealed the Dodge Ram, removed his cell phone from the truck and placed it into another vehicle. He then drove that vehicle back to the crash scene but failed to identify himself as the driver involved in the crash, then drove home, according to information in the affidavit.

Charges filed in second fatal crash

Also scheduled to appear in court next month for a preliminary hearing is Logan T. Wing, of Erie, whom Erie police charged in June in a January car-pedestrian accident at West 12th and Peach streets in the city.

More: Police to review video in crash at west Erie intersection that caused pedestrian's death

Wing, 26, is facing charges including a felony count of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and five misdemeanor counts of DUI in a Jan. 27 accident that caused the death of pedestrian Robert Doty, 38, of Erie.

Erie police reported after the accident that Doty was believed to have been walking north across West 12th Street and was believed to be in or near the crosswalk when he was struck by a westbound Subaru sport-utility vehicle. Doty died of his injuries at UPMC Hamot later that day, according to the Erie County Coroner's Office.

The Erie police accident investigator who filed the charges against Wing wrote in the affidavit of probable cause that Wing submitted to a blood test. The testing found his blood-alcohol content to be .092%, above the legal threshold of .08% for driving under the influence in Pennsylvania, and there were levels of THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, in his system, the investigator wrote in the affidavit.

Erie police charged Wing in the accident on June 3. He is scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on Aug. 12, according to information in his criminal docket sheet.

The investigations continue into two other notable fatal crashes in the Erie region, a multi-vehicle collision on Interstate 90 in Girard Township on May 22, 2023, that caused the death of a 10-year-old boy; and a three-vehicle collision on Route 97 in Leboeuf Township on Dec. 17 that caused the death of 24-year-old Ethan Johnson of Titusville, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com . Follow him on X @ETNhahn .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: State police charge Venango Township man in crash that killed motorcyclist near Edinboro