PHILADELPHIA – A Pennsylvania lawmaker has been awarded $50,000 for injuries sustained when he was unlawfully detained after questioning officers who had stopped two elderly men.

State Rep. Jewell Williams said excessively tight handcuffs caused nerve damage in his wrist when he was detained in March 2009 in his North Philadelphia neighborhood.

A spokeswoman for Williams tells the Philadelphia Daily News the jury agreed with the lawmaker’s claim his constitutional rights were violated.

But the city attorney who handled the case says in the Daily News report that Williams previously turned down a $65,000 settlement offer.

The former Temple University police officer said he was roughed up when he questioned officers who stopped and frisked two other men. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey apologized over the incident.

Williams was elected Philadelphia sheriff last month.



Suit threat prompts borough to move Nativity

ELLWOOD CITY – A small western Pennsylvania borough says it will move its Nativity display off public property next year to avoid a lawsuit from an anti-religion advocacy group.

Elwood City’s borough council voted Monday to move the display away from the municipal building after a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Solicitor Edward Leymarie said the only other option was to hang up a foundation-supplied banner reading in part, “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The Ellwood City Ledger reports Council President Anthony DeCarbo voted to move the display reluctantly, saying he believes case law on public holiday displays was wrong but has to be respected.

Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review she’s pleased that “reason has prevailed.”

 

Teacher held in sexting case involving teen girls

JAMESTOWN – A northwestern Pennsylvania teacher is behind bars charged with sending sexually explicit text messages to two students.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports 28-year-old Kevin Anthony Defrancesco was arraigned on charges including corruption of minors for messages he allegedly sent to two female students beginning in October.

Investigators say Defrancesco asked one of the girls to send him pictures of herself and traded pictures with the other.

Police say the alleged victims are 13 and 14 years old.

Court records don’t list an attorney for Defrancesco. He’s being held on a total of $35,000 bail.

The Greenville man teaches social studies in the Jamestown Area School District, about 100 miles northwest of Johnstown. A statement from the district says officials won’t comment on pending litigation.



Police: No charges in fatal fire truck crash

CARLISLE – State police say no charges will be filed against a firefighter who they say caused a crash that killed a central Pennsylvania woman.

Authorities say the driver will be cited for failing to drive at a safe speed, although he was not exceeding the speed limit when he crashed into the side of a sport-utility vehicle on Dec. 8.

Seventy-year-old Constance Walsh was killed in the collision in South Middleton Township, Cumberland County.

Investigators say there was no gross negligence on the part of the fire truck’s driver.

Officials say the fire truck had its lights and siren on while heading to a report of a car fire at the time of the crash.

 

Man convicted in 3-state chase in tractor-trailer

HAGERSTOWN, Md. – A Mississippi man who led police on a chase up Interstate 81 through parts of West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania has been convicted on four counts of second-degree assault and other offenses.

A Washington County judge announced the verdict Tuesday for 43-year-old Thomas L. McNeel, 43, of Pontotoc, Miss. A sentencing date has not been set.

The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports that the charges stem from the chase on Dec. 20, 2010, up Interstate 81 that began in Berkeley County, W.Va., and passed through Washington County before ending near Exit 5 in Franklin County, Pa.



Elderly couple killed in crash

DANIELSVILLE – Authorities in Northampton County say a man and woman were killed when their car ran into a stone retaining wall during a rainstorm.

Police say the accident happened at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in Lehigh Township.

Coroner Zachary Lysek told The (Allentown) Morning Call that the victims were in their 80s and lived in Walnutport.

Their names have not been released pending notification of their relatives.



Police: Teen fatally struck boarding school bus

ERIE – State police have identified an Erie County teenager who died after she was struck by a car while trying to board a school bus.

Troopers say 13-year-old Ashley Clark of Erie and a 17-year-old student trying to get on the Fort Leboeuf School District bus when they were struck at about 7 a.m. Tuesday on Route 97 in Erie County’s Summit Township.

Police say a northbound car driven by a 19-year-old man failed to stop as the bus was trying to load about a dozen students. Clark was pronounced dead at the scene and the other teenager was taken to UPMC Hamot with moderate injuries.

District officials said grief counselors will be provided for students.