Corrections officer killed in accident
A 32-year-old corrections officer at the State Correctional Institution at Greene died late Wednesday night after he was struck by a car driven by a prison nurse while the officer was leading an emergency response team nighttime drill. Officer David H. Bowser Jr. of Carmichaels was pronounced dead in Greene County Memorial Hospital shortly after the 10:30 p.m. accident along Progress Drive, which connects Route 21 to the prison.
Bowser, whose rank was Corrrections Officer 1, worked at the Waynesburg facility for all seven years of his employment with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He started in February 1995, according to prison spokesperson Sharon L. D’Eletto. A Marine veteran, he was a lance corporal in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
State police in Waynesburg said Bowser was calling the cadence from the left side of a group of officers jogging in formation along the western edge of the road when he was struck by Linda Casner, 48, of Dilliner.
Police and the prison’s security department released few details about the accident, noting they are continuing to investigate the incident.
Casner, who has worked at the prison as a licensed practical nurse since October 2001, is the wife of Maj. James Casner who also works at the facility. She was leaving work when the accident occurred.
“They were loyal staff members very dedicated to their positions and I feel deeply sorry for both families,” D’Eletto said. “It’s a very somber atmosphere in the institution because both were staff members. We’ve never experienced anything like that at this institution before. This is a first.”
She said Superintendent William S. Stickman III ordered a modified lockdown Thursday, suspending all routine activities for the current inmate population of 1,719 in the close-security prison, which houses most of the state’s capital case inmates. Another 30 inmates were absent because of scheduled court appearances. She didn’t know if the lockdown would be continued today.
She said the lockdown was ordered to allow the 731 employees to grieve. A Critical Incident Stress Team (CISM) was available to all staff for counseling.
Bowser was leading a different team – the Corrections Emergency Response Team – when the accident occurred. SCI-Greene and the minimum-security SCI-Waynesburg formed a joint CERT in 1994 to respond to emergencies in either facility, D’Eletto said. Each of the state’s 26 prisons has a CERT.
She said Bowser was not the leader of the team that was training Wednesday night, and didn’t know why he was leading the group, if the leader was present or the number of officers that were participating the exercise.
DOC spokesperson Susan McNaughton said there have been fender benders on prison grounds in the past, but she could recall only one incident relatively similar to Wednesday’s accident. In the early 1990s, a motorist struck a group of cadets from the Quehanna Boot Camp in Clearfield County who were working outside of the camp. Nobody was killed, but several cadets were injured.
“We’re very sorry and sad about this,” McNaughton said about the SCI Greene accident.
Bowser was praised by Robert Moore, president of the local Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association.
“Mr. Bowser was a dedicated and well respected staff member here at SCI-Greene,’ said Moore. Bowser was a member of the association. Moore added that Casner is also dedicated and respected among prison employees.
Bowser was born on June 7, 1970, in Akron, Ohio, the son of David Bowser Sr., of Carmichaels, and Darlene Presock Beswick of Carmichaels.
He was a 1988 graduate of Carmichaels Area High School.
On March 27, 1992, he married Denise Stephens Bowser, who survives him. In addition to his parents and wife, he is survived by a daughter, McKenzie Lucille Bowser; maternal grandparents, Theodore and Mary Presock of Carmichaels; two brothers, Keith Bowser and his wife, April of Carmichaels, and Jason Bowser of Carmichaels; and a sister, Lisa Moore of Carmichaels.
Friends and family will be received in the Paul M. Lesako Funeral Home Inc., Carmichaels on Saturday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 to 2 p.m., the hour of services, with the Rev. Tim Tanner officiating. Interment will be in Laurel Point Cemetery in Carmichaels. Full military rites will be accorded by American Legion Post No. 400 and V.F.W. Post No. 3491.