Police Officer Killed

In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 24, 2015, Ligonier Township Lt. Eric Eslary, and his K-9 partner Blek, pose for a photo at the diamond in Ligonier, Pa. Eslary was killed while on patrol early Tuesday, May 5, 2015, in a head-on crash with a work van police say was traveling the wrong way. Blek was taken to a veterinary hospital for surgery. Two men in the van were hospitalized with unspecified injuries (Evan Sanders/Tribune Review via AP) PITTSBURGH OUT

(Evan Sanders)

LIGONIER, Pa. (AP) -- The passenger in a van involved in a head-on crash that killed a western Pennsylvania police officer says he and the driver were drinking before the collision.

Derek Gifford tells Thursday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he and 31-year-old Clair Fink III finished most of an 18 pack of beer before Tuesday's crash in Ligonier.

State police say the Westmoreland Pools & Spas van was traveling the wrong way when it crashed into 40-year-old Ligonier Township Lt. Eric Eslary's SUV.

His K-9 partner, Blek, is recovering from surgery.

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The 21-year-old Gifford tells the newspaper he and Fink drank most of the beer, gave a can to a co-worker and had two or four cans left.

He says they'd been in the wrong lane for a minute or two before the crash.

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