BY BRENDAN GIBBONS
Times-Shamrock Writer

A 27-year-old Susquehanna County native killed Friday when a water tanker truck smashed into his SUV was an active-duty Marine and father of two boys, a family member said.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Stevens was home for his sister’s wedding, his mother-in-law Karin Dorman said. Sgt. Stevens and his wife, Katy, 26, and their sons, 2-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Hunter, were staying at Mrs. Dorman’s.

After driving away from his parents’ home in Springville Twp. around 4:20 p.m., Sgt. Stevens stopped his 2013 Dodge Durango at Routes 3004 and 29, the main intersection in Springville, state police said.

Behind him, Arlan Elmer Elvis Taft’s truck barrelled downhill. Unable to stop, the Tioga man’s tanker crashed into Sgt. Steven’s Durango. A four-vehicle pile-up ensued as the SUV was crushed between Mr. Taft’s truck and a Kenworth tractor-trailer, which in turn hit another Kenworth rig.

A fire started after the crash, and flames engulfed Sgt. Stevens’ SUV, Mrs. Dorman said. Mr. Stevens died at the scene, state police said. The other three drivers were not injured.

The fire left the Durango’s vehicle identification number illegible, along with any other clue to identify Mr. Stevens, Mrs. Dorman said.

“The vehicle was unrecognizable,” she said. “It totally just went in flames.”

Troopers had to identify Sgt. Stevens by his father’s hunting rifle, she said. He had just picked it up before the crash. A deer with an injured leg frequented Mrs. Dorman’s property, and Sgt. Stevens wanted to put it out of its misery, then call a game officer, she said.

She called him a “good dad” who loved coaching soccer for his older son. He had both boys’ names and handprints tattooed across his chest.

Sgt. Stevens, stationed at the Marines’ Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, had recently been promoted to staff sergeant. Before Camp Lejeune, he served as a drill instructor aboard the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, she said. Before that, he served deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Canada and Africa, she said.

Sgt. Stevens met his future wife in ninth grade at Elk Lake Junior-Senior High School, Mrs. Dorman said. They attended a dance together that year, then reconnected about seven years ago when he was home on leave.

The truck that crashed into him was an International water tanker truck, Mrs. Dorman said. Neither she nor state police at Gibson knew what company the driver, Mr. Taft, works for. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.

State police could not say yet whether Mr. Taft will face charges.