No Criminal Charges for Man who Caused Turnpike Death

The man who struck a sign on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with his truck, sending it flying into a car on April 14, won’t be charged criminally.

The freak accident killed local journalist Emily, 31, of Norristown on April 16. Morris was driving westbound on the turnpike to visit her family in a blue Volkswagen Passat when the sign struck her windshield.

According to a story on Lancasteronline.com, the driver of the truck, Rachid Belkhir, 26, of Telford, was cited with two summary traffic violations.  

Todd Brown, an assistant district attorney with the Lancaster County Major Crash Investigation Unit said in the story, “There was no evidence of reckless driving [by Belkhir] prior to the crash, or impairment of the operator, excessive fatigue or distracted driving, such as cell phone use.”

Morris was the online editor of Montgomery Media and also served as the editor of the “Souderton Independent” and “News Herald.”