Former officer convicted in fatal DUI crash in Pa.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A former police officer has been convicted in a fatal drunken-driving accident in suburban Philadelphia.

A Bucks County jury on Wednesday found 56-year-old William Bell guilty of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol and other counts in the April 19 crash that killed 50-year-old Barbara Brown. Bell faces a mandatory minimum of 3 to 6 years in prison.

Investigators say Bell had spent four hours at a post-funeral luncheon and had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for driving. His attorney argued that damp road conditions and faulty tires were the direct cause of the crash, in which Bell’s SUV hit Brown’s car head-on.

Bell was a Philadelphia police officer for 14 years before joining the Secret Service and then getting his private investigator’s license in 1993.