Lawyers for family of Pa. trooper killed on I-81 file civil suit against truck driver, trucking companies

Pennsylvania state Trooper Michael Pahira Jr.’s family alleges the trucker who struck and killed him on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County this summer was not qualified to be driving and consciously chose to get behind the wheel despite being fatigued.

They’re suing truck driver Michael Bon, the trucking company he was driving for, and the brokerage firm which hired that company.

The federal civil suit filed Wednesday in the Middle District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Patricia Pahira, the trooper's mother and administrator of his estate, alleges that Texas-based broker SNK Logistics hired Alabama-based motor carrier Augustin Freight Services (AFS) even though AFS had “a poor safety record,” which was publicly available information.

Bon, 34, a Haitian national who was living in Brockton, Mass., faces homicide by vehicle and other criminal charges in connection with the July 1 crash.

“The defendants' negligence, reckless disregard for federal safety regulations and failure to vet and supervise drivers led directly” to Pahira’s death, a release from the Morgan & Morgan law firm said.

“This lawsuit is merely step one in the family's journey to obtain justice,” attorney Clancy Boylan said during a press conference Wednesday. “The Pahira family seeks to pursue accountability and to reinforce a very simple and very basic truth: that when companies put trucks on our roads, safety is not optional.”

Abdias Augustin, who identified himself as co-owner of the company during a phone call, told WVIA News his company is seeking an attorney and declined further comment.

A person who answered the phone at SNK Logistics hung up when a reporter called seeking comment.

U.S. Department of Transportation information about Augustin's safety record can be found here. DOT information about SNK's record can be found here.

The suit also presents witness testimony describing the moments before and after the crash, including statements that Bon emerged from the cab of his truck in just his socks, appearing as if “he had just woken up.”

Bon's defense attorney, John Waldron, said he had not yet seen the suit when contacted Wednesday afternoon.

Bon was en route from New Hampshire to Texas on the morning of the crash, Waldron said in July.

Waldron said then he asked Bon if he was tired at the time of the crash. Bon told him he was not.

"He stopped in New York, refueled, rested for an hour or two, drank a Red Bull or two — an energy drink — and then continued into Pennsylvania, where the accident took place," Waldron said.

Waldron also said then that Bon had suffered from seizures in his native Haiti, but none in the U.S. in the time leading up to the crash.

Suit presents details from crash scene

Bon is accused of losing control, crashing the 2019 Freightliner he was driving into two other vehicles and Pahira as the trooper was conducting a routine inspection of a tractor-trailer on the right shoulder of the interstate at about 7 a.m.

Pahira, 44, a 20-year veteran of the force, was assigned to PSP's Frackville barracks as a motor carrier inspector.

The lawsuit says the emergency lights on his Ford F350 police truck were activated, and that both Pahira’s truck and the tractor-trailer he was inspecting were fully off the roadway. The stretch of I-81 where the crash took place is straight with no defects and there were no adverse weather conditions, state police investigators have said.

“His truck could be seen for over a mile, and the defendant had at least 49 seconds in which to pull over or move over as the law required,” Boylan said. “Instead … Bon, operating a tractor-trailer for Augustine Freight Services, left his lane of travel, crossed over the fog line, struck the commercial motor vehicle, and then struck Michael [Pahira].”

The lawsuit says the driver of an XPO tractor-trailer pulled over and attempted to walk toward Pahira, who was trapped under the cab of Bon’s rig. “The heat from the fire was too much” for him to approach, and the man immediately called 911.

The XPO driver saw Bon leave his truck wearing only his socks, then go back into the burning cab to retrieve his shoes and put them on, the suit states.

Construction worker pulled Pahira from underneath truck

The suit and attorney Boylan said a second witness ran over to the burning truck.

“A witness who happened to be at a nearby construction site heroically entered the inferno and somehow managed to pull out six-foot-four Michael Pahira so that he didn't burn alive,” Boylan said. “And according to that witness, Michael was alive, and he was aware.”

The suit says the construction worker asked Pahira if he could pull him out and the trooper simply responded “legs.” The man asked a second time and Pahira pointed to the shoulder of the road.

The man struggled with Pahira’s shirt and vest amid two explosions but finally freed him.

State police responded and started chest compressions, followed by EMS who took over. Pahira was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital East, where he was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m., state police previously said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Suit focuses on Bon's records, qualifications

The lawsuit says the witnesses didn’t hear Bon mention any medical issue when he emerged from the truck at the crash scene.

“Notably, [Bon] never said anything about a seizure or an epileptic condition,” the suit says.

To be hired as a qualified commercial vehicle driver “a person needs to be medically qualified,” the suit says, part of which involves filling out a medical exam report form.

Boylan said the issue was raised during Bon’s Aug. 26 preliminary hearing in the criminal case, and that state police had obtained the paperwork showing Bon checked “no” in response to a question asking if he had ever had seizures or epilepsy.

“Now that's all stuff that we're going to be accessing after this complaint is filed,” as part of the discovery process, he added.

Bon had been granted a "non-domiciled" commercial driver's license (CDL) in Massachusetts. Those were issued by states to people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents before a federal order stopped the practice earlier this year.

Bon was admitted to the U.S. in 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He was ordered to leave the U.S. after his humanitarian parole was terminated in June 2025.

Massachusetts officials previously confirmed to WVIA News that Bon was legally eligible for a CDL at the time he applied in March 2025, because he had not been ordered to leave the country. Bon applied for renewal in February 2026 and was approved in accordance with federal law, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) said.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is not named as a defendant in the suit. Boylan said his team will be seeking information about what training Bon received prior to receiving a CDL.

The suit alleges that the transportation companies “knew of Bon’s limited driving experience and chose to hire him anyway … and chose not to train him.”

Company's safety record in focus

The suit also alleges that SNK “should have known that AFS, with only four drivers, had an unsafe history of performing services as a motor carrier on the two years leading up to the crash,” including:

● A vehicle out-of-service percentage of 40%, nearly twice the national average.

● 82 unsafe driving violation points in just over a year, for infractions including failure to use a seat belt, speeding, cellphone use while driving, as well as traffic control device and lane restriction violations.

● Log-falsification violation

● 144 maintenance violation points.

“If the freight brokers do their job and investigate the actual safety of a company and prevent them from driving, the country's roads will be safer,” Boylan said. “So that's why it's really important that freight brokers are held accountable for their role that they play in interstate commerce, and that's something that we've been seeking to do in many cases across the country.”

Defense attorney Waldron in July told WVIA News he spoke with the truck's owner, who was unaware of any mechanical issues.

"The truck owner said Michael's credentials were fine, which is why he got hired, and the truck was inspected," Waldron said.

WVIA Screenshot

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PA Cast, Commonwealth Media Services

Next steps

A magisterial district judge in Schuylkill County on Aug. 26 ruled that the criminal case against Bon could move to county court. He remains in the Schuylkill County Prison awaiting further proceedings.

Boylan said Bon could invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the civil case until his criminal process is adjudicated, and “that can present a little bit of a delay.”

“That won't stop us from getting discovery from the motor carrier and from the freight broker,” he added.

“I expect that if it does go to trial, we would we would try this before three years is up, maybe closer to two years,” Boylan said of the civil case, adding that he expects a trial would be held in Northeast Pennsylvania.