BY ROBERT L. BAKER
Times-Shamrock Writer

A 94-year-old Springville woman has been charged with the unintentional death of a passenger in a car her vehicle collided with in Wyoming County in mid-December.

Court records note that Alice S. Clink of Marcy Road, Springville, was driving south on Route 29, just north of Tunkhannock around 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 12 when her 2006 Dodge Stratus crossed the center line and collided head-on with vehicle heading north that had a driver and two passengers.

Tunkhannock Twp. Patrolman James Kearns reported that all individuals, including a passenger in Clink’s vehicle, were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

One week later, on Dec. 19, Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy Rowlands stated that Robert Atticks, 90, of Montrose, passed away at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton “from internal injuries from blunt force trauma suffered from the collision.”

According to court records, Clink told police she felt fatigued and believes she “dozed off” briefly and was suddenly awakened by the driver side airbag when it deployed and struck her in the face, but had no further recollection of the collision.

The driver of the vehicle which had Atticks as passenger told police she tried to flash her lights and honk her horn to get the attention of the driver of the oncoming vehicle but to no avail.

It was determined by Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell that Clink should face a misdemeanor charge of recklessly endangering another person, and summary charges of careless driving leading to unintentional death as well as driving on roadways laned for traffic.

A preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 9 before Magisterial District Judge David Plummer.