YORK — A York man has been charged with homicide by vehicle in connection with a crash that killed a bicyclist last year.
The accident occurred June 28, 2018 on part of the York County Rail Trail that intersects with Kings Mill Road and Jessop Place.
Murphy Franklin, 49, was traveling in the 500 block of Jessop Place that afternoon when he failed to stop at a stop sign and continued through a T intersection, police said at the time.
Franklin’s vehicle, a Chevy Impala, left the roadway, went over a curb and sidewalk before crossing a patch of grass and striking the victim on a bike.
Police said the bicyclist, 45-year-old Christopher Kress, was thrown down an embankment. He died at the scene.
The vehicle also went down the embankment, flipping over and coming to rest on its wheels.
Franklin advised that he had a seizure and blacked out. Police said he has a history of seizures, headaches and migraines.
During a follow-up visit, Franklin stated that he woke up with a headache that day but didn’t think much of it.
According to police, Franklin has been involved in several other accidents over the past eight years:
- July 7, 2011 – four-vehicle crash on Interstate 83 … Franklin claimed to have blacked out prior to the crash. He only remembers someone helping him from his vehicle after the accident.
- April 25, 2012 – crash where Franklin rear-ended another vehicle, which led to that vehicle going through a guard rail in a parking lot and then into a creek … Franklin stated he stopped taking his seizure medication because he thought he was OK; he did admit to having some dizzy spells.
- May 23, 2014 – Franklin caused head-on collision with another vehicle as he drove the wrong way on a one-way street … He said that once again, he had stopped taking his medication.
