The crash that killed a Pennsylvania state trooper, allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant truck driver, exposed failures at the intersection of highway safety and immigration enforcement, the architect of Pennsylvania's move-over law said.Michael Bon, a 33-year-old Haitian national who entered the U.S.under former President Joe Biden's mass parole program, according to the Department of Homeland Security, was arrested after his big rig plowed into Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr.
on Interstate 81.State Sen.Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, whose district encompasses a large swath of Interstate 81's heavily truck-trafficked corridor, said his law was meant to prevent tragedies like this, many of which have happened in or near his district.Mastriano said Bon's immigration status made the tragedy doubly preventable.ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCK DRIVER CHARGED IN DEATH OF TROOPER WHO MOVED HOME TO CARE FOR MOM WITH CANCERDoug Mastriano, Republican gubernatorial candidate for Pennsylvania, center, greets attendee while arriving for a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
(Dustin Franz/Bloomberg)Mastriano said his move-over law came about in 2019 as one of his first efforts after being elected to the legislature."I heard from Tom Bricker, a tow truck operator at Abe’s Towing out of Chambersburg," he said."He told me all the close calls he's had, all the friends of his that have been killed or injured by people crashing into the tow trucks … especially on 81, since that goes through our area."VIRGINIA BUS CRASH THAT KILLED FIVE INVOLVED DRIVER WHO DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH, SEAN DUFFY SAYSAfter Bricker visited Mastriano, tow trucker Tyler Laudenslager was struck and killed on Interstate 81 west of Lebanon, prompting his move-over legislation, which Democratic then-Gov.
Tom Wolf signed.Since then, Pennsylvania motorists have been required to move over for tow trucks and other emergency vehicles or slow to a safe speed, something Bon allegedly did not do when he ...