Fired Phila. officer to be tried for vehicular homicide

Police Sgt. Thomas Winkis had been doing shots with a friend in a Northeast Philadelphia tavern before he got behind the wheel of his Dodge Challenger, barreled down the road at 100 m.p.h., and slammed into a Ford van, fatally injuring a 55-year-old Fishtown man last summer, the friend testified Wednesday.

Gina D’emilio, 26, told Municipal Court Judge Karen Y. Simmons that she and Winkis, 46, left the bar together about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 14. She told the court that she was drunk: She had been doing shots, and also had wine and a gin tonic. Winkis, she said, had kept pace with her – beers and shots.