Nov. 5--NICHOLSON TWP. -- Wyoming County businessman Sandy A. Buselli III had a love for cars, working on them as a child, turning them into a career as an adult.

"His passion was cars and, ironically, that's how he died," his sister, Mary Jane Cerminaro, said Wednesday, hours after Mr. Buselli, owner of Glenwood Auto Sales, was killed in a violent head-on collision on Route 11 near the scenic overlook for the Tunkhannock Viaduct.

"I'm in shock. I'm in complete and utter shock."

Mr. Buselli, 51, of Nicholson, was pronounced dead at the scene by Coroner Thomas Kukuchka after state police say his Ford Escort hatchback crossed into the path of an oncoming Jeep Cherokee around 8:50 a.m. about a half-mile south of the Route 92 intersection. The driver of the Cherokee was injured.

"We don't know where he was going or what he was doing," Ms. Cerminaro said. "We don't know how it happened. He just ended up in the other lane."

She said her brother, a Dunmore native and 1976 graduate of Dunmore High School, moved to Nicholson and opened his business repairing and selling late-model cars about 20 years ago, building on a love of autos that he inherited from their father.

"He always liked the country, and he always liked fixing cars," she said.

According to state police, Mr. Buselli was traveling north on Route 11 when his Escort crossed the center line and went into the southbound lane. Ian W. Billets, 29, also of Nicholson, who was traveling south in the Cherokee, tried to avoid a collision but failed, police said.

The vehicles hit in the southbound lane, striking front passenger side to front passenger side. Mr. Buselli's car then slammed into the guardrail on the west side of the highway. The Cherokee spun around after impact, coming to rest on its roof in the northbound lane.

Mr. Buselli was trapped inside the wreckage. Mr. Billets, who managed to get out of his vehicle after the crash, was later taken by family members to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, state police said.

The accident remains under investigation, police said.

The crash closed Route 11 between Route 92 and state Route 1017 for more than five hours while emergency personnel and a state police accident reconstruction team worked at the scene.

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

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