Cops: Berwick car dealer charged

BERWICK -- State Police escorted a used car dealer accused of cheating customers out of the magistrate's office in handcuffs Tuesday evening as half a dozen alleged victims and their families stood in the parking lot and cheered.

"A cop going to jail -- see you!" yelled one man as troopers placed Jeremy Talanca, 47 -- who also serves as Girardville's officer in charge -- in the back of a patrol car.

"Good job, troopers!" yelled another. "We're getting the justice we deserve!"

I-80 CRASH UPDATE: One man dead

LIGHTSTREET — One man has died after an accident on Interstate 80 Sunday, police say.

A man headed west on I-80 drove his vehicle off the highway and through the median of the interstate, smashing into the rear tandem axles of a tractor-trailer just before 7 p.m., police say.

That knocked the trailer over and started it on fire. While the truck's driver escaped with no injuries, the driver of the vehicle that had crossed the median was rushed to Geisinger Medical Center, where police said he died.

Fire damages Danville home

DANVILLE — An early-morning fire Saturday heavily damaged a large two-story home in the 400 block of West Mahoning Street here, but all living there escaped injury.

A crashing sound startled John Brunetto, 44, around 4:30 a.m., when he was in his living room, he said. He soon spotted flames in a hallway upstairs.

Car crashes in Nescopeck

NESCOPECK — A driver speeding east on Route 339 failed to stop in time at the end of the highway and crashed into a telephone pole Sunday morning, the fire chief said.

The Silver Sentra hit the pole so hard, the car bounced back across the intersection, said Nescopeck Fire Chief Harry Knorr.

The impact dented the front of the car into a “V” shape, trapping the sole occupant inside, Knorr said.

Firefighters used wooden wedges to stabilize the car, then tore open the passenger’s side door to ease the man out.

Man fatally stabs mother, police say

ALMEDIA – A man stabbed his mother multiple times, killing her Wednesday afternoon at her Scott Township home, police said.

James Cosper, 60, fatally stabbed Bonnie Lou Cosper, 82, at 3630 Old Berwick Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday, State Police said.

According to neighbors, police arrived at the house in Scott Township to find a woman lying prone on her front porch.

Tanker overturns near Southern Columbia, spills fuel into drainage ditch

FRANKLIN TWP — Thousands of gallons of fuel gushed from a tanker truck after its driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed Wednesday morning.

The crash closed a third-of-a-mile stretch of Route 487 from Southern Columbia High School to Hemlock Road for hours while crews cleaned up the flammable mess.

Firefighters were not able to stop the spill, so instead they lined up in a drainage ditch and dug dams in an effort to stop it from reaching a nearby creek.

Police investigate death in Scott Township

SCOTT TOWNSHIP – State and local police are investigating a death in Sherwood Village here.

Several law enforcement and EMS vehicles were on scene throughout Saturday morning at 140 Knights Drive. According to neighbors, police first arrived around 8 a.m.

Columbia County Coroner Jeremy Reese, who was on scene, confirmed that one person was found dead in the house there. 

State Police Cpl. Brian Hook said that a criminal investigation is ongoing, with State Police as the lead investigators, and there is no current threat to the public. 

Benton-area teen dies in morning crash

FISHING CREEK TWP. — A Benton-area teen was killed on his way to Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech on Wednesday morning in a crash along Route 487 just north of the municipal building here.

State Police at Bloomsburg said 17-year-old Brandon Kocher of Stillwater was traveling southbound when his Ford Escape went off the road for unknown reasons and slammed into a tree about 7:40 a.m.

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