Posted on Tue, Nov. 14, 2006
Police seek alcohol source in crash
By Pete Bosak
pbosak@centredaily.com
BELLEFONTE -- Search warrants executed following a fatal accident that left a pedestrian dead and a second fighting for his life show State College police are hunting for whoever provided the alcohol they believe the underage driver consumed before the Oct. 28 crash.
"The investigation is ongoing and very thorough," State College police Detective John Aston said.
State College police searched a house at 235 S. Burrowes St. where, on Oct. 28, two Penn State students hosted a costume party, according to a police affidavit. Witnesses told police that 20-year-old Anthony "Tony" Torsell was drinking there before he allegedly ran down two pedestrians at the intersection of Beaver Avenue and South Atherton Street, according to the affidavit.
"Witnesses that attended the party stated that a keg of beer, cans of beer and Jell-O shots mixed with either rum or vodka were readily available and accessible without proof of age," Aston wrote in the affidavit filed with his application for a search warrant.
As of Monday, no charges had yet been filed against anyone for furnishing alcohol to minors, a misdemeanor.
Aston met Monday with Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane and discussed the furnishing to minors investigation. Aston said more than a dozen people are being investigated for furnishing alcohol, all stemming from the initial police investigation into where Torsell was before the fatal crash.
"I am backtracking that entire night, from the start of the evening all the way through," Aston said.
Richard A. Smith, 21, of Conshohocken, originally of Chadds Ford, died at Mount Nittany Medical Center a short time after he was hit by Torsell's Buick Skylark. The second pedestrian struck, Aaron C. Stidd, a Penn State student, remains in critical condition at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Witnesses told police the car that struck them was traveling at about 50 to 60 mph south on Atherton Street, where the speed limit is 35 mph, when it plowed into the two pedestrians in the crosswalk at about 2:30 a.m.
Torsell's blood-alcohol content was 0.242 percent, police said. The threshold for DUI is 0.08, and the legal limit for a 20-year-old is 0.02. Police said in a criminal complaint that Torsell admitted drinking five beers and two shots of whiskey at his State College apartment just before the fatal incident.
Police also executed a search warrant on Torsell's West Prospect Avenue apartment and found beer cans, shot glasses and whiskey, according to an inventory of items seized on file in the Centre County Prothonotary's Office.
But police learned through their investigation he also was drinking at this costume party, according to court documents.
Witnesses told police Torsell was drinking beer and had consumed "several Jell-O shots mixed with liquor," Aston wrote in his affidavit.
Torsell, a 2004 Bellefonte High School graduate, is charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, driving at an unsafe speed, careless driving and carrying a false identification card.
Torsell is free on $75,000 bond.
Pete Bosak can be reached at 235-3928.