A Trucksville, Pennsylvania police officer saw charges dismissed against them after an alleged cover-up of a DUI crash. Three misdemeanor counts against another emergency responder to the same DUI crash were sent to county court. Magisterial District Judge James Tupper, after listening to five hours of testimony, didn’t believe the case added up against suspect Michael Thomas.
Thomas, a police officer for Plymouth and Larksville, had been charged with hindering apprehension, obstruction of justice, and tampering with evidence. All charges were considered misdemeanor charges under the law but even more serious for a police officer.
However, Tupper didn’t find sufficient evidence to charge Thomas, 28, of Wilkes-Barre, PA. Tupper dropped the charges against Thomas because he was taken off the case after the crash and wasn’t part of the on-going investigation. Tupper resigned from the Larksville Police Department on December 26, 2014.
John Fronzoni, 35, of Larksville, PA, is a career firefighter for Larksville and a Courtdale and Edwardsville police office. Fronzoni is suspected of obstructing emergency services. Allegedly, he was doing so to protect a friend. Tupper forwarded charges against Fronzoni for hindering the prosecution, witness intimidation, and obstruction of justice to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
Fronzoni was charged December 30, 2014. Those charges were eventually withdrawn in March 2015 at a preliminary hearing. He was then charged with 19 offenses, some new, in October 2015, after further investigation of his involvement. All charges are misdemeanors.
Charges stem from a December 21, 2015, accident. A motor vehicle hit a pole on West Luzerne Avenue. When Larksville EMT Lori Amos arrived on the scene, she found the driver, Bill Ritsick, next to his vehicle. She advised him to wait for the police. He said he was not injured despite the damage to the vehicle and pole hit. When Fronzoni arrived on the scene, he took control of the scene and both urged Amos and Ritsick to act against protocol.