Fink pleads guilty to driving drunk, killing officer in Ligonier crash

Clair Fink pleaded guilty Friday and could be sentenced to as much as 40 years in prison for driving drunk and killing Ligonier Township police Lt. Eric Eslary in a head-on crash last year.

Fink, 33, of Ligonier pleaded guilty in Westmoreland County court to third-degree murder for the crash that killed Eslary, 40, and injured his K-9 partner, Blek, on May 5, 2015.

“I am guilty,” Fink said during the brief hearing before Judge Christopher Feliciani.

Fink admitted guilt to five charges against him, which also included vehicular homicide while driving drunk and three counts of DUI. Lesser offenses were dismissed by the prosecution.

Eslary's widow listened to the plea with the support of six women whose husbands were police officers who died while on duty.

“I'm very much appreciative he's taking responsibility for his actions,” said Mary Beth Eslary. “He's also killed a part of me and a part of his family, too. He's changed a lot of lives and destroyed multiple families.”

What made the crime murder was that Fink's actions showed malice on the night he drove the wrong way on Route 30 with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, not that it was a policeman who was killed — an argument the defense suggested at an earlier hearing, a prosecutor said after the plea was entered.

“For it to be third-degree murder, you have to be able to prove the defendant consciously disregarded the law, and that's what happened here,” Assistant District Attorney Allen Powanda said. “The victim being a police officer had nothing to do with it.”

While Powanda said this was the first time a murder charge was filed in connection with a drunken-driving death in Westmoreland County, the circumstances warranted more than the vehicular homicide or manslaughter charges that are routinely filed in such cases.

Testifying at earlier court hearings, Derek Gifford of Unity said he and Fink worked at Westmoreland Pools and Spas and spent the day of the crash installing a pool liner at a home in Uniontown. After work they drank beer for several hours, then Fink drove them in a company truck to a strip club and a convenience store to pick up food.

While on the road, Fink drove into construction barrels and later stopped the truck to survey the damage, Gifford said. Then they continued driving, and Fink turned east into the westbound lanes of Route 30 about 2 a.m., when his truck hit Eslary's police cruiser.

“In this case, we had evidence he crashed (earlier), stopped and saw the damage, and got back in his vehicle and drove again,” Powanda said.

According to court records, Fink had a blood-alcohol level of 0.197 percent, nearly two-and-a-half times the amount a driver in Pennsylvania is considered intoxicated. Prosecutors said traces of marijuana also were found in Fink's system.

Feliciani will conduct a sentencing hearing in about three months.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.