Dangerous Drunk Trucker Jailed After Crashing Into Trooper On Route 17

Our highways can be very dangerous, and one of the biggest dangers motorists face every day is navigating around tractor-trailers. So this week’s police report of a drunk truck driver striking a New York State trooper’s car in Tioga County, N.Y.,should remind Twin Tiers motorists to use extra caution around trucks.  A sleepy or intoxicated trucker could be behind the wheel of a huge, fast-moving weapon.

We have handled many tragic tractor trailer injury and death cases.  Because of the sheer size of a tractor trailer, and the fact that they are often speeding, tractor trailer crashes are very high-energy collisions causing substantial damage to vehicles and their occupants.

And because Route 17 / Route 86 is a very busy truck route through Upstate NY, we see a lot of truck crashes in our area.

In this recent Tioga County crash, Troopers said at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, a truck driven by 35-year-old Darvi L. Moreland of Orange Park, Florida, sideswiped the trooper’s 2019 Dodge Charger marked police vehicle in the eastbound lanes of State Route 17 near Nichols.

Fortunately, the trooper had stepped back into his vehicle following the traffic stop – just before the trucker sideswiped the driver’s side of the state police vehicle. The trooper was waiting for the motorist who was pulled over to leave the scene before he left.

The trucker fled the scene after sideswiping the trooper’s car and police agencies immediately issued a BOLO – Be On The Look Out – for the trucker while the trooper was transported to Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, where he was fortunately treated and released with only minor injuries.

The crash could have been disastrous and deadly.

Police officers from the Owego Police Department and Tioga County Sheriff’s Department pulled over the trucker near Exit 64 in Owego. The truck had passenger-side damage and a flat tire.

The trucker failed a field sobriety test and was charged with driving while intoxicated and issued several traffic tickets. He was arraigned in the Owego Town Court and sent to the Tioga County Jail.

Thank you for reading,

Jim