LEWISBURG - The driver of a 2009 Cadillac who allegedly caused a five-vehicle crash on Route 15, leaving a Turbotville woman dead, was treated and released from Evangelical Community Hospital, according to the nursing supervisor.
It's not yet clear if Edward Peace, 81, of Gorham, N.Y., will face charges, said state police, citing the continuing investigation. A police communications officer reached Tuesday at the barracks said that no further information has been released. A search of Peace's name on the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System website showed no records in his name in Union County Tuesday evening.
Ellen Marie Kear, 35, of Turbotville, was pronounced dead at the scene by Union County Coroner Wanda Walters. Kear was thrown from her vehicle after Peace's car struck it head on and ultimately landed on top of Kear.
Peace was allegedly driving his car on the wrong side of Route 15 when the crash occurred about 9 p.m. Sunday, according to Sgt. Frederick Dyroff of the state police at Milton. Troopers no sooner received a call of a vehicle driving south on the northbound side when report of the crash came in, he said.
The accident occurred at Route 15 and AJK Boulevard in Kelly Township, about three miles north of Lewisburg. There, Peace reportedly ran a red light and sideswiped one vehicle, then collided head-on with Kear's vehicle, pushing it into the front of another vehicle driven by a female from Wellsboro. Police said the victims' vehicles were stopped for a red light at the intersection. A fifth vehicle, driven by a male from Milton, tried to avoid the wreck but was struck by the fourth car, police said.
No other drivers or passengers were injured, Dyroff said. Route 15 was closed until about 3:15 a.m. Monday for the accident investigation.
The Daily Item reported on Monday that Kear was the daughter of former Milton District Judge William F. and Jean L. Kear, of Watsontown. She was a 1996 graduate of Warrior Run High School and had a 20-month-old son, according to the newspaper.