Homicide, manslaughter charges filed against PennDOT driver in fatal Perry County crash

Homicide charges have been filed against a Perry County man accused of causing a fatal crash while driving a PennDOT truck last year.

State police and the Perry County district attorney's office said Parke F. Hoover of Millerstown was charged today with murder by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and traffic offenses stemming from the August 2011 crash.

SARA GANIM, The Patriot-News The PennDOT truck after its 61-year-old driver struck a Ford Crown Victoria going northbound on Routes 11/15 in Watts Township, Perry County. Perry County fatal crash gallery (4 photos)

Hoover was driving a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation dump truck when he hit a car while trying to make a U-turn on Routes 11/15. The car, a Crown Victoria, was carrying a family of four from Washington state.

The equipment attached to the grill of the truck sliced through the passenger side of the car, killing 43-year-old Hui Satorius, a mother of two who was in the front passenger seat. Badly injured was her 5-year-old daughter, who was seated behind her. Hui Satorius' 7-year-old son and husband, Dale Satorius, 46, who was driving, escaped.

Hoover, who is in his 60s, was unhurt in the crash, as was his passenger, who was not charged.

Hoover has already pleaded guilty to a summary traffic violation in the crash, a move last month that set off an investigation by the district attorney into whether more serious charges would be able to be levied.

Authorities in Perry County said a state trooper, on the day of his retirement, helped Hoover. District Attorney Charles Chenot III said Kevin Frey, whose retirement as a Newport-based state trooper took effect at the end of the day Feb. 3, met Hoover that day at a district court, where Hoover pleaded guilty to a minor traffic offense related to the crash.

Chenot said at the time that authorities already had been considering more serious charges against Hoover, but that the guilty plea would "most likely preclude any further criminal prosecution of Hoover under double jeopardy laws of Pennsylvania."

Chenot said Frey "filed the citation without the approval, authorization, or knowledge of the Perry County district attorney, the Perry County coroner, his state police supervisors, or apparently his fellow state police officers."

Chenot said he and Michael Shalonis, the Perry County coroner, would research adding charges -- which happened today.

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