Couple on motorcycle killed in crash

Driver of vehicle charged with vehicular homicide while DUI

WILLIAMSPORT -- Matthew Allen Bower, 34, of 377 Herlocker Road, has been charged with vehicular homicide while intoxicated and other charges following a Saturday night crash that killed a couple riding on a motorcyle and injured two occupants in another vehicle.

James Neufer, 38, of Sylvan Dell Road, was pronounced dead on scene at 10:07 p.m., and Amanda Bergstrom, 38, of East Village Drive, formerly of Jersey Shore, was pronounced dead in the emergency room at UPMC Susquehanna at 10:54 p.m., said Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling Jr. Both Neufer and Bergstrom suffered multiple traumatic injuries, said Kiessling.

Williamsport police investigated the accident on the Arch Street Bridge.

Officer Christopher Salisbury said Bower was observed with "bloodshot ... glassy eyes and slurred speech" as he spoke to officers and also smelled of alochol.

The motorcycle was southbound as another vehicle was traveling north, Kiessling said.

At the intersection of Arch Street and Hiawatha Boulevard, Bower's southbounnd vehicle crossed into Neufer and Bergstrom's lane and struck the motorcycle.

A vehicle traveling directly behind the motorcycle also struck Bower's vehicle before going over an embankment, police.

That driver, who was not identified by police, told police that she saw the vehicle driven by Bower cross into the wrong lane of traffic and strike the motorcycle before her vehicle struck Bower's car.

She sustained a "serious injury to her left knee which required surgery to repair and a passenger in her vehicle sustained a broken foot," the coroner said.

At the scene, Bower allegedly told police, "he had four or five alcoholic drinks."

Susquehanna Regional EMS, Williamsport police and fire departments, Old Lycoming Township fire and EMS, and state police responded to the crash.