VENANGO COUNTY, Pa. – A Venango County man was arraigned today on homicide by vehicle charges stemming from a crash that occurred in July 2019.
Court documents indicate 27-year-old Cody A. Lewis, of Franklin, was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrew F. Fish at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, August 10, on the following charges:
– Homicide By Vehicle, Felony 3
– Aggravated Assault by Vehicle, Felony 3
– Recklessly Endangering Another Person, Misdemeanor 2
– Disregard Traffic Lane (Single), Summary
– Driving at Safe Speed, Summary
– Careless Driving, Summary
– Reckless Driving, Summary
He remains free on $5,000.00 unsecured bail.
The charges stem from a deadly crash that occurred in July of 2019.
According to a criminal complaint, around 4:10 p.m. on July 23, 2019, Franklin-based State Police were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash on State Route 417 at its intersection with Camp Wilber Road, in Oakland Township, Venango County.
Police arrived at the scene to find EMS giving medical attention to Timothy McClelland, who had been ejected from this vehicle and was lying in the northbound lane.
The complaint states Timothy McClelland suffered severe injuries and was in critical condition. A juvenile passenger in McClelland’s vehicle was also being treated by EMS and was then transported to Children’s Hospital by STAT MedEvac.
According to the complaint, Timothy McClelland became unstable prior to STAT MedEvac’s take off, and the decision was then made to transport him to Titusville Airport to get him in stable condition and then have him flown from there. However, McClelland was pronounced dead prior to reaching Titusville Airport.
The complaint states Crawford County Deputy Coroner Rocco Tedesko determined McClelland’s cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma due to the motor vehicle crash.
The following day, police learned that the passenger in McClelland’s vehicle had emergency surgery to remove a portion of his small intestine. He was also reported to have five broken ribs, bruised lungs, swelling to his pelvic area, and his collar bone was broken in three places.
According to the complaint, the crash occurred when Cody Alan Lewis was driving his vehicle south on Route 417 at a high rate of speed, in a posted 55 mile per hour zone, and McClelland pulled his vehicle from a stop sign into the northbound lane. Lewis’s vehicle then entered the northbound lane and struck McClelland’s vehicle head-on.
The complaint notes Pennsylvania State Police Troop E’s Crash Analysis and Reconstruction Specialist, Trooper Mackensen, determined Lewis was traveling between 101 and 110 miles per hour, based on the physical evidence at the scene. He determined that Lewis was approximately 442 feet away from the point of impact when McClelland turned onto the roadway and concluded that if Lewis was traveling the posted speed limit, the crash would not have occurred.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on September 16, with Judge Fish presiding.
Court documents indicate Lewis has a criminal history in Venango County, having served two years of probation after pleading guilty to one second-degree misdemeanor count of indecent assault in 2016.
