Friday, October 17, 2008

Former Trooper Richard Keener Now Accused of Drunk Driving

A former state police trooper from Bellefonte who was on probation for assaulting a woman in Clinton County is now accused of crashing his car into a utility pole while driving drunk, seriously injuring his wife.

Spring Township police say 40-year-old Richard Scott Keener was standing outside his vehicle on the 1200 block of Airport Road covered in blood around 9 p.m. Sept. 6 when police arrived at the scene.

Keener denied being the driver of the car, refused medical treatment, and told officers that his wife — who was laying across the front seat, unconscious, bloody and had a noticeably broken arm — was “just sleeping,” police said.

His wife, Brenda Keener, wasn’t sleeping. Police say her brain was bruised and bleeding, she had a broken arm, cuts on her face and shoulder, and her pelvis, vertebrae and two ribs were fractured.

Keener smelled like alcohol and told police he had two beers, police said. Two beer cans were found at the scene and Keener, who refused any field sobriety tests, was arrested and later found to have a blood alcohol level of .234 percent.

Two witnesses to the crash told police Keener was in the driver’s seat when they stopped to check on the car’s occupants.

Keener, who lives at 102 Marble Lane, was a trooper in the Lamar barracks when he was accused last year of raping a woman in her apartment. He pleaded guilty to lesser offenses of simple assault, indecent assault of unlawful restraint in exchange for no jail time, but nearly nine years of probation.

He is now in jail for violating his probation.

“Obviously this was a very serious accident in which he almost lost the life of his wife and even his actions after the accident indicate no real concern for her,” said District Attorney Michael Madeira. “So, we’re going to push hard on this one.”

Keener waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday and will face trial on aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and other related charges.

His wife is still hospitalized at a HealthSouth rehab center.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I happened to know his wife well and it is horrible what she is going through and we wonder if she will ever be the same woman she once was and we also wonder if they will just slap his wrist again and tell him to behave or put him where he belongs to think long and hard???

Anonymous said...

sounds like to me he needs to do a lot of jail time!! What a jackass!!

I can't understand why she put up with him after he was arrested for and charged with sexual misconduct with teenaged girls. Shame on her!!

Anonymous said...

I know the both of them. He's a real scumbag, and he has had a very harmful effect on his wife and kids through his perpetual acting like a college sophomore.
She had a screw loose too, to be with him in the car while he was DUI. She was in denial for at least a decade about his extramarital "action" and what an irresponsible shithead he is.
The only upside to this is that now she can finally be free from him and maybe start over with a nice guy, and her kids might have a chance at a normal life.

Anonymous said...

I knew the guy when he was a cop and he always acted like he was "above the law."

Anonymous said...

Is this him?
https://www.facebook.com/100000734088424