MAWA approves new truck purchase following crash

Mike Crowley, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·2 min read

Apr. 19—VERNON TOWNSHIP — Meadville Area Water Authority (MAWA) board members on Wednesday approved the purchase of a new pickup to replace another involved in a crash earlier this month.

Board members voted 3-0 in favor of purchasing a 2024 Chevy Silverado 1500 Double Cab from Dave Hallman Chevrolet in Erie for $46,770. Project manager Bob Harrington said the authority would pay $11,322, the balance remaining after insurance reimbursement for the value of the truck totaled in the crash.

"Nobody was injured, and everybody got to go home," Harrington told the board of the incident. "It's unfortunate that we lost the truck, but we can replace that."

Harrington told the board he expected the replacement vehicle to be ready today.

The truck being replaced, a 2021 Ford F150, was one of three vehicles involved in a crash at 2:45 p.m. April 1 at the intersection of Rogers Ferry Road and Dunham Road, according to a Meadville Police Department report. The intersection is located less than a quarter of a mile from MAWA headquarters.

The crash occurred when David William Cook II, 33, of McKean, was traveling west on Dunham Road, according to city police. Cook came to a stop and then proceeded into the intersection, believing it was a four-way stop, police reported.

However, traffic traveling on Rogers Ferry Road is free-flowing with no stop signs at the intersection. Overhead traffic lights at the intersection were removed in January 2017 as the intersection was converted to a four-way stop. The intersection was then converted to its current two-way stop configuration in June of that year.

When Cook's 2015 Ford F150 entered the intersection earlier this month, it collided with the water authority's 2021 Ford 150, driven by Howard Tressler Jr., 42, of Meadville, which was traveling north on Rogers Ferry Road, according to police. The water authority truck then collided with a 2013 Nissan Juke being driven south on Rogers Ferry by Julie Lantz, 34, of Meadville, causing the sport utility vehicle (SUV) to roll over.

Cook's truck sustained minor damage to the front bumper, the authority's truck sustained heavy damage to the left side and rear tire damage, and Lantz's SUV sustained heavy damage due to the rollover.

Cook pleaded guilty Wednesday to a summary charge of obedience to traffic control devices.

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.