TIOGA, PA A 44-year-old Westfield man was arrested and jailed Monday on charges stemming from a fatal hit-run crash that occurred more than seven years ago on Route 287, according to state police.
The driver, Simon Eugene Gigee, of the 900 block of Ladd Road, was arraigned before District Judge Robert Repard on two counts of crashes involving death or personal injury.
The charges stem from a late-morning crash three miles south of here on Oct. 27, 2006, that claimed the life of 34-year-old Rhonda Fromm and injured her 38-year-old husband, Michael. The couple lived in the Lawrenceville area.
Gigee fled the scene following the crash that occurred when a stolen homemade trailer his southbound pickup truck was pulling came detached from the truck.
The trailer crossed into the northbound lane and collided with the left front fender of a Dodge Intrepid driven by Rhonda Fromm. This caused the car to spin in a clockwise direction which then struck a guardrail before overturning on its roof.
Rhonda Fromm was pronounced dead at the scene by Tioga County Coroner Dr. James Wilson while her husband, a front-seat passenger, was treated at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in Wellsboro.
Gigee talked to several people about the crash “in their presence.” A woman riding with Gigee at the time of the crash “was located and named Gigee as the driver,” The woman’s identity was not released.
Gigee was committed to the Tioga County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.
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