Driver charged in I-90 crash

A paralyzed Erie man who police say caused a fatal two-vehicle accident on Interstate 90 in July now faces charges that he was drunk at the time.

Paul Staub, 44, faces 10 charges in all, including two drunken-driving charges.

Staub's blood-alcohol content at the time was 0.8 percent, the lowest amount classified as driving under the influence, State Police Trooper Eric McGuire said.

Staub also faces two misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and six summary charges for traffic violations, including speeding, failing to signal a turn and reckless driving.

Staub, who was paralyzed from the chest down after falling 13 feet at a work site in 1993, was driving with adaptive controls that allowed him to operate the vehicle with his hands alone.

His preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 27. Police charged Staub on Thursday.The two-vehicle accident happened at about 4 p.m. on July 17 just east of the Wesleyville exit in Harborcreek Township.

A passenger in the other vehicle, Larry W. Wood, 60, of Germantown, Tenn., was killed in the accident.The driver, Preston M. Pennybacker, 51, of Lowell, Ind., was seriously injured.

McGuire said Staub was driving to a friend's house in the eastbound lane of I-90 when he swerved his van into the side of Pennybacker's tractor-trailer cab.

Police said both vehicles traveled into the median. Staub's van hit a crossover, police said, became airborne and struck the guide rail on the far side of the westbound lanes. The van rolled down an embankment and came to rest against trees about 40 yards away, police said.

Staub was thrown from the vehicle, McGuire said.Witnesses said that Pennybacker's rig began to jackknife, went into the median, struck an embankment and rolled before stopping. Pennybacker was wearing his seat belt, but Wood was moving from the back of the cabin to the passenger's seat and was standing when the rig was struck, McGuire said.

-GoErie.com, Tuesday, August 21, 2007