A 20-year-old man has been charged with DUI: Controlled Substance, Homicide by Vehicle while DUI and other charges as a result of an investigation by Montgomery County police into a Sept. 14 accident that claimed the life of a 72-year-old Lower Saucon Township grandmother.
Lehigh Valley Live cited investigators in reporting Thursday that Logan Parker Dierkes of Hatfield was allegedly driving a Dodge Charger SRT at between 84 and 97 mph on a Franconia Township road with a 35 mph speed limit when the crash occurred around 5:45 p.m.
Dierkes is alleged to have been under the influence of marijuana when he struck a Ford Explorer driven by Paula Ann Wilson, who was exiting a driveway onto Mininger Road with her young granddaughter a passenger when the accident happened, the news site reported.
According to the case docket filed in Montgomery County District Court 38-1-24, Dierkes is also charged with Homicide by Vehicle, Recklessly Endangering Another Person, Reckless Driving and speeding.
Following a preliminary arraignment Thursday, Dierkes was released on $99,000 unsecured bail, with a preliminary hearing in his case scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13 at 9:45 a.m. before District Judge Albert Augustine.
Dierkes is being represented by attorney William Moore of Colmar, according to the docket.
According to Paula Ann Wilson’s obituary, she was a 1969 graduate of Bethlehem Catholic High School and an active member of Assumption BVM Church, as well as a graduate of Moravian College.
“Paula’s fondness for education and affection of children led her to serve as an elementary school teacher in the Bethlehem Area School District and a substitute teacher at Nativity Parish School in Leawood, Kan., and St. Michael the Archangel School in Limeport, Pa.,” the obituary said. “She would consider her most important work as a loving wife, mother and grandmother,” it added.
Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using information from Montgomery County court records.
