Arraignment information for Bon wasn’t immediately available, and it wasn’t clear if he had retained counsel who could speak on his behalf.
The trooper, Michael E. Pahira Jr., 44, was conducting a commercial truck inspection around 7 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 81 south in Cass Township in Schuylkill County.
A second truck, allegedly driven by Bon, “left the roadway and struck the patrol unit’s side view-mirror,” officials said.
It then hit the back of the truck that was being inspected and ran into Pahira, officials said.
Bon allegedly “continued with the trooper under the truck for quite some distance down the road,” State Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens, acting commissioner of the agency, said during a Wednesday briefing alongside Governor Josh Shapiro.
“That truck … caught fire with the trooper trapped at the front end of the truck,” Bivens said, adding that emegency responders removed Pahira from the truck and began providing aid at the scene.
Pahira was rushed to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. He is the 106th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to die in the line of duty, authorities said.
“Pennsylvania lost one of its finest public servants,” Shapiro said during the briefing. “Trooper Mike Pahira, who his loved ones called Mikey … was taken from us in an awful accident this morning.”
Shapiro described Pahira, who joined the State Police in 2007, as a “devoted” brother, uncle, and son who loved modifying cars and watching documentaries, and had starred as a high school wrestler, holding the state record for fastest pin in a match.
Shapiro said he ordered flags be flown at half-staff to honor Pahria.
“He was a good man, and he was a good cop, and he was taken from us far too soon as he served our community,” he said. ”We are all going to miss him.”
At the time of the crash, Bon was driving “a White 2019 Freightliner bearing Florida registration DF64HU and a trailer with an unknown registration loaded with clothing,” police said in an report.
One witness told investigators he saw Bon get out of the truck after the crash and “attempted to move a Pennsylvania State Trooper from the front bumper area” before moving away because of the fire, the report said.
This story will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.