Ex-Punxsutawney officer won’t be charged in death

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March 16, 2010

Anonymous The Tribune-Democrat Tue Mar 16, 2010, 10:08 AM EDT

PUNXSUTAWNEY — State prosecutors won’t charge a Punxsutawney police officer who was fired because a man died in his police cruiser about five hours after he was picked up for public drunkenness.

Brian Andrekovich was fired in November, about three months after 48-year-old Stephen Obbish was found dead in his squad car on Aug. 15.

Obbish was arrested about 9:50 a.m. and was found dead in the same police cruiser about 3 p.m. that day.

Although Obbish remained in the cruiser as it was parked in a police station port, investigators determined municipal employees checked on him “occasionally.”

A coroner says Obbish died from a combination of his own medications and a blood-alcohol content nearly four times the legal limit.

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