Police name 5 motorcyclists who died in crash

Gregg Specht and Darlene Black, friends of accident victims, hug near a white cross he set in place on Route 72 near Manheim, Pa., where three motorcycles and a van collided on Sunday, June 27, 2010, killing five and injuring two.
Gregg Specht and Darlene Black, friends of accident victims, hug near a white cross he set in place on Route 72 near Manheim, Pa., where three motorcycles and a van collided on Sunday, June 27, 2010, killing five and injuring two. (Peter Mucha)
Posted: June 28, 2010

Three men and two women were killed, and a woman was critically injured as the three motorcycles they were riding struck a van in Lancaster County Sunday afternoon.

About 5 p.m., the bikes - all Harley Davidsons - were headed north in the 1600 block of Lancaster Road (Route 72) in Penn Township. Somehow, they collided with a taxi van based in Harrisburg, police said.

Five victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Penn Township Police, they were Linda and Samuel Lapp, both 48, of New Holland; Dennis Wilhelm Jr., 43, and Amy Wilhelm, 50, of Lancaster; and Joshua Pennington, 27, of East Earl, Lancaster County.

The sixth motorcyclist - Kristen Skowood, 27 - was in critical condition at Lancaster General Hospital.

The van driver, 64-year-old Alfred Moore of Harrisburg, was in fair condition at a hospital.

Three sides of the van were hit. "It was hit in the front end, and both sides at the real wheels," Cpl. Rodney J. King told WGAL-TV in Lancaster.

He said it was the worst accident he's seen in 20 years.


Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.

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