A Schuylkill County man has been sentenced to 4 1/2 to 9 years in state prison for causing a head-on crash that killed a 2-year-old girl in Berks County.

Bernard Scherr, 57, of Lake Wynonah pleaded guilty Monday in Berks County Court to charges of homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle and recklessly endangering another person in the crash Jan. 3, 2025, along Route 183 in Penn Township.

Scherr entered open pleas, meaning there was no agreement between prosecutors and his attorney on a sentence.

Following his prison sentence, President Judge M. Theresa Johnson ordered Scherr to serve two years of special probation.

State police said Scherr caused the two-vehicle crash by trying to pass a vehicle in a no passing zone of the two-lane road and striking the victim’s vehicle. The 2-year-old girl in that vehicle died after suffering head and neck injuries, and the girl’s mother suffered serious injuries, troopers said. Scherr was also injured.

According to court documents:

Scherr was driving his pickup truck south on Route 183, also known as Bernville Road, at about 5 a.m.

Erikka Phillips, 27, of Reading, was driving northbound with her daughter, Journii Crawley, 2, who was restrained in a child seat in the rear of the SUV.

Another vehicle pulled out from Church Road into the southbound lane of Route 183, and Scherr tried to pass it as he neared the top of a hill. That driver looked in his rearview mirror and saw the collision between Scherr’s vehicle and Phillips’ SUV in the northbound lane.

Phillips told troopers that she had tried to swerve to the right but was unable to avoid the oncoming truck.

Crawley was transported to Reading Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by the Berks County coroner’s office.

Phillips and Scherr were also taken to Reading Hospital for treatment.

The state police investigation showed that Scherr had been driving at speeds near 90 mph in the 55-mph zone. The investigation also confirmed that Scherr caused the crash by illegally attempting to pass another vehicle and striking Phillips, troopers said.