The preliminary hearing for a Nesquehoning police officer charged in connection in a fatal crash involving his cruiser and another vehicle, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The hearing for Steven Homanko, 26, of Beaver Meadows, is scheduled to be held in the office of District Judge Casimir Kosciolek of Lansford. Senior District Judge Joan Snyder of Lehigh County will hear the matter.Kosciolek and fellow county DJs Edward Lewis, of Jim Thorpe, William Kissner, of Palmerton, and Joseph Homanko, of Weatherly, recused themselves from the case. DJ Homanko is the father of the defendant.Homanko is charged with homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangering another person, reckless driving, careless driving, driving a vehicle at an unsafe speed and failure to drive on the right side of the road. The homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault charges are both felony threes.Homanko was operating a Nesquehoning police cruiser on May 12, 2014, along Route 209 in the borough when he crashed into a Toyota Yaris driven by Michael Sauers, 64, of Hazleton. Sauers' wife, Carola, 69, a front seat passenger, was killed in the crash.Michael Sauers was seriously injured and was hospitalized for about a month and underwent multiple surgeries. He is a second grade teacher in the Pleasant Valley School District. His wife was a physical therapy assistant.The crash happened as Homanko, driving a 2009 Ford Crown Victoria, rounded a curve about one and one-half miles north of the intersection of routes 209 and 903, between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe, and crashed into the Toyota.At the time of the crash Homanko told dispatchers at the Carbon County Communications Center, "I just crashed. I just crashed ... I need medics."State police at Lehighton took over the investigation of the crash. Cpl. Shawn Noonan, who took charge of the investigation, wrote in his report that state police reconstruction of the accident indicated Homanko's cruiser was traveling at about 113 mph the 55 zone.In the affidavit of probable cause filed by Noonan, the trooper wrote that Homanko told him in a March 5, 2015, interview that he "believed he never exceeded 70 mph."Homanko said he was in pursuit of a Dodge Neon, heading toward Jim Thorpe. The pursuit began about 6:21 p.m. It ended about two minutes later when Homanko's cruiser crashed into Sauers' vehicle.The Dodge Neon Homanko was pursuing was stopped by Jim Thorpe police. The occupants were questioned, tested and later released.State police did not charge Homanko until almost a year after the crash. On May 6 he was arraigned on the charges before Kosciolek and released on $100,000 unsecured bail.On May 28, 2014, Nesquehoning Borough Council put Homanko on leave.The prosecution of the case was taken over by the state Attorney General's office at the request of the Carbon County District Attorney's Office.The county DA office recused itself from the case because it deals regularly with local police, including Nesquehoning, in the prosecution of criminal matters and did not want any conflict of interest to appear.