The Pennsylvania State Police trooper who caused a fatal traffic accident in Fairview Township in July faces no criminal charges, but he could lose his job over the crash.

The trooper, Frederick Schimp, went before a magistrate Monday in an attempt to head off a possible firing.

At a summary trial, Schimp asked Millcreek Township District Judge Paul Manzi to acquit him of one of the two summary traffic violations the state police filed against him: careless driving involving an unintentional death. Schimp, 49, said he would plead guilty to the other offense: the summary of failing to obey a stop sign.

Schimp will get fined over the stop-sign violation, but the ramifications will be more severe if Manzi convicts him of careless driving.

Schimp would automatically have his driver's license suspended for six months because the crash involved a death.

The state police consider a suspended license a potential reason to discharge a trooper, said Schimp's lawyer, Philip Friedman. He said Schimp is fighting the careless driving citation to prevent getting fired.

"That's the reason," Friedman said after leaving court.

Manzi said he would rule on Wednesday, after he reviewed evidence and legal arguments that Friedman and Assistant District Attorney Lisa Ferrick presented at Monday's hourlong nonjury trial. Erie County Court is closed today for Veterans Day.

Ferrick's boss, District Attorney Jack Daneri, declined in September to have criminal charges filed against Schimp. Daneri said the state police investigation showed Schimp, who was not responding to a call, did not run the stop sign on purpose and did not act with gross negligence or recklessness -- two elements he said would have been required for police to charge Schimp with involuntary manslaughter or other criminal offenses.

The legal definition of carelessness was the subject of Monday's hearing.

Friedman did not dispute that Schimp, driving a 2013 state police Ford Explorer, ran a stop sign at the intersection of Sterrettania Road and Route 98 at about 3:30 a.m. on July 5.

He did not dispute that Schimp, headed west on Sterrettania Road, was driving 55 mph when the SUV collided with a 2012 Suzuki Kizashi that was northbound on Route 98. The driver of that car, 57-year-old Edinboro resident Donna Platz, who did not have a stop sign, was pronounced dead at the scene. She had been driving to her job as a baker at Wegmans.

Friedman argued that Schimp's behavior did not rise to the level of "careless disregard" that Pennsylvania law says must be present for a motorist to be convicted of the summary of careless driving. "There was a failure to perceive the stop sign," he said, but he said Schimp had not been driving erratically and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"There was no indication of carelessness, other than he went through a stop sign," Friedman told Manzi.

Friedman called the case a tragedy, and said "our hearts go out to the family" of Platz.

Schimp, who was injured in the crash and has not returned to work, was present but did not testify. He told state police he does not remember what happened in the accident. Also injured was Schimp's passenger, Trooper Garrett Padasak, who also said he does not remember what happened, testified state police Cpl. Michael Fox, who investigated the crash.

Ferrick, the prosecutor, called Fox as the sole witness, and Ferrick argued Schimp was careless. He was driving 69 mph 5 seconds before the crash, and he braked lightly, Ferrick said, citing information from the SUV's black box data collector.

She said the weather was clear and that Schimp was familiar with the intersection. It has two stop signs, one oversized, for traffic headed west on Sterrettania Road, as well as a sign warning westbound drivers that the stop signs are ahead.

"Despite that," Ferrick said, "he went through the stop signs."

ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.