Pennsylvania Fire Police Officer Struck While Directing Traffic

A fire police officer’s legs were broken Thursday when he was run over while directing traffic near a Washington County crash, the officer and a sheriff’s deputy said Friday. William A. Kent, 50, a lieutenant with the Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., fire police, said Friday evening he was “in great pain,” having had emergency surgery Thursday night and facing the possibility of more.

Talking by phone from his room at Waynesboro Hospital, Kent said he responded to a crash on Military Road in the Cascade area, close to the Frederick County, Md., and Franklin County, Pa., borders.

Near Eyler Avenue, a pickup truck pulling a trailer of lumber was one of the vehicles that needed to be redirected while the road was closed because of the crash, Kent said.

After he walked behind the vehicle, the trailer backed up, knocked him down and dragged him several feet, Kent said.

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy J. Kuhnke said John E. Reese, 44, of Boonsboro, was driving the truck pulling the trailer that accidentally hit Kent.

Kuhnke said one account at the scene was that Kent was going to help Reese back up and turn around, so Kent walked behind the trailer, but had his back to it and didn’t see it coming toward him.

But Kent said he told Reese he was going to clear other traffic first, which is why he had his back to the trailer and wasn’t expecting it to move.

Kuhnke said no charges will be filed.

Kent, who lives in Blue Ridge Summit, said he’s looking at six to nine months of recovery, depending in part on whether he has more surgery.

The original crash that required traffic control happened at about 3:20 p.m. on Military Road.

A report says Patricia A. Poffenberger, 46, of Pennsylvania, was driving a Buick and David B. Crampton, 46, of Pennsylvania, was driving a Ford Ranger.

Kuhnke said Crampton’s truck, going west on Military Road, collided with Poffenberger’s Buick, which was making a left onto Military Road from Highfield Road to go east.

Kuhnke said Poffenberger was trapped in her vehicle after the crash and had to be removed. He said she was taken to a local hospital, but he didn’t know her condition Friday evening.

Poffenberger was not listed as a patient Friday at either Waynesboro Hospital or Washington County Hospital.