PA man killed after hitting trooper, striking SUV

PLAINS, Pa. (AP) — State police shot and killed a man who struck a trooper with his pickup truck and then crashed into a police sport utility vehicle after an altercation at a northeastern Pennsylvania bar, authorities said.

State police and Luzerne County prosecutors said troopers from Wilkes-Barre were called to the Ole Tyme Charley’s Pub and Grill in Plains Township at about 1:30 a.m. Friday after a “highly intoxicated” man was reported to have assaulted a patron and an employee.

Police allege that as two troopers arrived, Jason Kilduff, 41, of Pittston “intentionally” drove his pickup toward the troopers in an “attempt to strike them with his vehicle.” One trooper was struck and the truck also struck the state police SUV, police said.

“Both troopers discharged their weapons while attempting to dodge the vehicle,” police said. After striking the police SUV, the truck went over a short wall and into the bar vestibule. Kilduff was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The injured trooper was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens’ Voice reports that the blue pickup remained lodged in the side of the building later in the morning and numerous bullet holes could be seen in the passenger-side window. The damaged state police SUV and another SUV had been loaded onto flatbed trucks to be taken from the scene.

In May 2015, Kilduff was charged with punching an employee and biting a patron at Bar Louie in Mohegan Sun Pocono after which a police officer was injured while trying to restrain him, the newspaper reported. He pleaded guilty to simple assault and was sentenced to three months confinement and six months’ probation, the paper said.

Police and prosecutors said the investigation is continuing.

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