Man cleared in fatal Greene County crash
WAYNESBURG – A Greene County man charged with homicide by vehicle and other charges following a July 2005 motorcycle accident which claimed the life of a passenger was cleared of all charges by a Greene County jury Tuesday. Thomas Scott Smith, 35, of Holbrook was charged in the death of Brenda E. Durbin, 33. Durbin was a passenger on a 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle operated by Smith that crashed on Browns Creek Road near Pisgah Ridge Road in Franklin Township on July 20, 2005.
State police arrested Smith on Oct. 19, 2005, on charges of homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, and four summary violations, including careless driving and driving at a safe speed.
Police alleged that Smith leaned his motorcycle too far to the left while negotiating a curve, causing him to lose control. The motorcycle then slid about 145 feet and struck the guardrail. Upon impact, Smith and Durbin were ejected from the motorcycle. They were flown to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, where Durbin was pronounced dead.
According to police, neither Smith nor Durbin were wearing helmets at the time of the accident. Police said Smith had a blood-alcohol content level of .133 percent, higher than the Pennsylvania legal limit of intoxication, which is .08 percent.
At the conclusion of Smith’s jury trial, which began Monday and continued through Tuesday, the jury found Smith not guilty of homicide by vehicle and the two DUI counts. The counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence were dropped after Smith was found not guilty of the DUI counts, according to reports. District Attorney Marjorie Fox said it was unnecessary for the jury to rule on those charges after Smith was found not guilty of the DUI counts.
Jurors deliberated for about an hour before returning the verdict. President Judge H. Terry Grimes presided over the trial.
Following the verdict, Fox said the district attorney’s office respected the decision of the jury. She added, “Our thoughts are with the family of Brenda Durbin.”
Witnesses testified during Smith’s November 2005 preliminary hearing that Smith and Durbin left Trinity’s Bar in west Waynesburg around 1:25 a.m. July 20, got on Smith’s motorcycle and the two rode onto Route 18, where the accident occurred.
EMS Southwest personnel testified at that hearing that when they arrived at the scene at 1:51 a.m. they found the two riders lying on the side of the road. EMS personnel took Smith and Durbin to the Greene County Airport, where they were flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital, she said.
Trooper Andrew Zimmer, a state police criminal investigator, testified at the preliminary hearing that he interviewed Smith in the hospital’s intensive care unit after the crash, and that Smith said he had been at the bar for a short period of time and had drank two beers before leaving.
Smith also told police that an unknown vehicle had crossed the center line and entered into his lane, which caused him to lay his motorcycle down, and that the driver then fled the scene. However, Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea of Troop B of the state police in Washington testified at the hearing that police found no evidence at the scene indicating that another vehicle had entered Smith’s path at the time of the accident.
D’Andrea, a collision reconstruction specialist for state police, also testified that when he investigated the accident scene he found scrape marks believed to be caused by the motorcycle along the double yellow center line. That, he said, indicated that Smith was operating the motorcycle in the middle of the road as he approached a curve in the road.
D’Andrea said evidence found at the scene enabled him to estimate that Smith was traveling at an estimated minimum speed of 52 mph at the time of the accident. The posted speed limit on the road is 45 mph.