Moments after his police cruiser slammed into a Toyota Yaris on Route 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe on May 12, 2014, part-time Nesquehoning patrolman Steven Homanko issued a prediction to his fellow cop, Timothy Wuttke, at the scene.

"I'm afraid when I get to the hospital, I'm going to be arrested," Homanko said, according to Cpl. Shawn Noonan of the state police.Nearly a year later, Homanko was charged on May 6 with felony vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, felony aggravated assault by vehicle, and related charges in the crash that killed Carola Sauers, 69, and severely injured her husband, Michael Sauers, 64, both of Lehighton.On Tuesday, all charges were bound over to Carbon County Court following nearly five hours of preliminary hearing testimony in front of Lehigh County District Judge Joan Snyder."We give great discretion to law enforcement officers," said Anthony Forray, prosecuting attorney for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, "but that does not give someone the right to drive up and down the road like a hot dog for no apparent reason."Homanko told investigators he was pursuing a yellow Dodge Neon that had made an illegal pass near the intersection of routes 93 and 209.Several witnesses, however, testified Tuesday that they saw a Nesquehoning cruiser speeding up and down Route 93 and Route 209 within a half-hour of the fatal crash, which happened just before 6:30 p.m.Cpl. Todd Tolan, who reconstructed the crash, reported that Homanko was driving at 113 mph at the time.While the Neon did make an illegal pass, Homanko told state police he "wasn't that concerned with trying to catch it because he already contacted Jim Thorpe police, who were waiting for it up ahead at the Liberties."The Liberties section would be the first turnoff for 3 miles."Unfortunately Mrs. Sauers died on that night, but that is all we know for certain at this point," defense attorney Paul Levy said. "Officer Homanko was trying to do his job. It's clear from testimony of witnesses that the Neon was speeding. We don't know how Cpl. Tolan came up with his 113 mph estimate. At this point, this is nothing more than an accident."Snyder was brought in to hear the case following the recusal of the Carbon County district judges, one of which is Homanko's father.He remains free on $100,000 unsecured bail while awaiting an Aug. 4 arraignment date.Michael Sauers speaksThough they called Station Street in Lehighton home, the Sauerses kept a second residence in Hazleton, where they were headed the night of the fatal crash."We made the trip almost every day," Michael Sauers said. "It was important to us that we have a presence up there."The couple was about 4 miles outside of Jim Thorpe, heading southbound on Route 209, with Michael driving, when a Nesquehoning police cruiser started spinning sideways in the direction of their Toyota."Within seconds the back of the police car slammed into the front of our vehicle," Sauers said. "I remember the smell of the airbags, rubber and gasoline."To his left, he saw Homanko about 15-20 feet away. Twice he yelled at the officer, "What the (expletive) is wrong with you."Sauers turned to his wife, telling Carola she needed to get out of the car, but she was unconscious and didn't respond.Another voice, one he couldn't identify, told him help was on the way."I remember telling them to take me to the same place they took my wife," he said.Sauers was transported to St. Luke's University Hospital in Bethlehem, where he remained for two months.His injuries included a broken acetabulum on the right hip, fractured left collarbone, two broken ribs and two damaged vertebrae.It wasn't until the last of week February that he returned to his job as a teacher in the Pleasant Valley School District.Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Sauers said he didn't feel anger at the sight of Homanko."I'm just very relieved the justice process is beginning," he said. "I want to find out the truth. I'm hearing some things here that I don't even remember."Sauers got emotional when talking about his wife, who he had known for 30 years and described as very active."She loved working out in the garden and enjoyed animals," he said. "I miss her every day. She was the love of my life and my best friend."Witness recounts crashHeading home from dinner, Shenandoah resident Rita M. Pecika was the passenger in the vehicle directly behind the Sauerses' Toyota.Pecika said she heard a siren and saw flashing lights just before Homanko's car rounded a corner and came into their lane of travel."It looked like he was speeding and then tried to correct his lane of travel," Pecika said. "Then he spun out of control."After the crash, Pecika's husband warned her not to get too close to the Sauerses' vehicle because it was leaking fluid, but the certified medical assistant felt she needed to help."All I could really do was comfort Michael," she said. "He was bleeding pretty bad and just kept asking for his wife. I knew she wasn't in good shape, but I just kept telling him that she was next to him."Both Sauers and Pecika testified that they did not see the Dodge Neon Homanko claimed to be pursuing.State trooper outlines evidenceNoonan was third to take the stand Tuesday, going through over 10 still images captured from the mobile video recording unit inside Homanko's vehicle and a surveillance camera from Creitz Auto Sales near the routes 93 and 209 intersection.Both cameras show a yellow Dodge Neon passing a truck. The Creitz camera timestamp shows Homanko's car in pursuit 15 seconds later.The video in the police cruiser abruptly stops, however, after Homanko begins pursuit.On March 13, 2015, Noonan interviewed Homanko, who said he had conducted a vehicle stop on Route 93 for an equipment violation and was about to head back to the station afterward, when he spotted the "Neon's illegal pass right in front of him."Homanko told Noonan he didn't have to pursue the first vehicle at a high rate of speed and didn't believe he traveled over 70 mph while pursuing the Neon.He also said he did not turn off his in-car video recording unit.Jeff Schuler of Henryville was driving the truck passed by the Neon headed north on Route 209."That car did pass me," he said. "The female driver pulled into the left lane to turn on Route 93, but instead she pulled past me back onto Route 209. It was pretty far down the road when I saw the police car coming behind me. He passed me at a pretty good rate of speed."Schuler didn't see Homanko's cruiser again until he came upon the accident scene.Forray also questioned Noonan on Tolan's accident reconstruction report and an autopsy report submitted by the Lehigh County Coroner's Office.The back-and-forth led to numerous objections from Levy because neither Tolan nor Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim were present Tuesday to attest to the reports.Tolan is recovering from back surgery, but Forray said he would be available to testify if the case goes to trial.Grim sent Deputy Coroner Craig Hanzl, who said he did perform parts of the investigation."It's a fishing expedition," Forray said of Levy's objections and questioning.Hanzl said Carola Sauers died from multiple blunt-force trauma as the result of a motor vehicle crash and the manner of death was an accident.Homanko's driving questionedForray paraded six witnesses in front of the judge Tuesday to speak about their encounters with a Nesquehoning police cruiser within a half-hour of the crash, although each one said the vehicle was traveling so fast they couldn't positively identify Homanko as the driver.Ryan Wickkiser, the passenger in a vehicle headed to Weatherly, said a cruiser passed him on Route 93 shortly after 6 p.m."We were going 70 mph and he easily pulled away from us going down the road," Wickkiser said. "About 1 mile down the road, the police car came back going in the other direction, back toward Route 209, at an even higher rate of speed. We were in a truck and the force of the wind was so strong when he passed us that it shook our much bigger vehicle."Laina Sanfilippo was also on Route 93 headed toward her home in Hazleton when she saw the cruiser, headed back toward Route 209, come into her lane of travel."I thought he was going to hit me," she said. "Nobody was ahead of him or behind him. I didn't know who he was chasing."One driver who did spot the Dodge Neon was Matthew Machalik, of Nesquehoning."I was on Route 209 south just before the Route 93 intersection and the Neon was going north at about 80 or 90 mph," he said. "Around 10-15 seconds later, the police car came by going about 90-100 mph."