A Bethlehem, Pa., man who police say was driving a sport utility vehicle the wrong way on state Route 60 in Shenango Township when it crashed head-on into an elderly couple's car on Nov. 5 is facing two separated drunken driving charges in Montgomery County.

No charges have been filed in Mercer County in connection with the local crash, which resulted in the deaths of Donald R. Romanio, Jr., 69, and his wife Norma, 73, of New Castle.

The SUV's driver Joseph C. Stemple, Jr., 41, of Bethlehem, formerly of Blue Bell, Montgomery County, was charged Feb. 14 by East Norton police with drunken driving after the van he was driving hit a parked vehicle, according to a police affidavit. His preliminary hearing on that charge is Dec. 17 in a Montgomery County district court.

Stemple, who is the son of the chief of police in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County, was charged a second time with drunken driving May 1 after his vehicle ran a red light and hit another vehicle in Pottstown, according to Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney John Gradel. His blood alcohol tested at 0.351, according to court documents. His hearing on that charge will be before the end of the year, Gradel said.

At 5:08 p.m. Nov. 5, Shenango Township police said, Stemple's SUV was headed north in the southbound lanes of Route 60 and hit a car carrying the Romanios. Mrs. Romanio was pronounced dead at the scene by Mercer County Coroner J. Bradley McGonigle III,. Her husband, who was driving, died later in St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown.