Pennsylvania Act 2012-58 — CORPORAL PAUL WALTERS MEMORIAL BRIDGE - DESIGNATION

Act text

AN ACT

Designating the bridge carrying State Route 114 over Interstate 81 in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, as the Corporal Paul Walters Memorial Bridge.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Corporal Paul Walters Memorial Bridge.

(a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1) Paul Walters was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force, having served in Vietnam.

(2) Paul Walters became a patrolman for the Silver Spring Township Police Department on February 25, 1972. He is the only officer to lose his life in the line of duty in the history of the Silver Spring Township Police Department.

(3) Officer Walters was dispatched to the 6600 block of the Carlisle Pike in Silver Spring Township on the evening of January 19, 1975, due to a report of several teenage boys throwing snowballs at tractor trailers.

(4) Officer Walters and his partner proceeded to the scene, and Officer Walters left their patrol car in the area where the subjects were reported to have been seen. His partner proceeded to a nearby location in order to approach the suspects from the opposite direction.

(5) Officer Walters apprehended the suspects and placed them under arrest. As he escorted them along the Carlisle Pike, to the location of the parked patrol car, under conditions of low driver visibility, Officer Walters walked along the left lane of northbound traffic and used his flashlight to signal approaching vehicles to the right lane in order to provide for the safety of the suspects.

(6) Officer Walters signaled a large truck to move into the right lane. The driver of the truck heeded Officer Walters' direction. Unbeknownst to the driver and Officer Walters, a vehicle was closely following the truck.

(7) Officer Walters was struck by this vehicle. He died shortly thereafter.

(8) Officer Walters was survived by his parents, his three children and his sister.

(9) Officer Walters was posthumously promoted to the rank of corporal by the Board of Supervisors of Silver Spring Township.

(b) Designation.--The bridge carrying State Route 114 over Interstate 81 in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, is designated as the Corporal Paul Walters Memorial Bridge.

(c) Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the bridge to traffic in both directions.

Section 2. Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.