In Blair County Court yesterday, a Homer City man was sentenced to serve five years probation for a fatal accident on Interstate 99 near the Bald Eagle exit in May of 2015.
41-year-old Dean Rowland Jr.’s tractor trailer sideswiped a disabled truck parked along the highway, killing 44-year-old Wayne Wallen Jr. of Altoona, who was looking under the hood of his vehicle. Rowland told police at the scene that he’d been reaching for or eating some cookies and was momentarily distracted.
Rowland pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Three summary traffic violations were dropped. In recommending the probation, District Attorney Richard Consiglio told Judge Daniel Milliron it was a tragic accident that was “one step beyond an accident where no charged are ever filed.” A remorseful Rowland told the judge he didn’t know Wallen, but he thinks about him and his family every day.
Rowland’s probation will be supervised here in Indiana County.
