Four Pennsylvania teens charged with negligence in death of friend

By David DeKok HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Four western Pennsylvania teenagers face criminal prosecution for failing to help an ill friend who died, but they could have been protected by law if they had sought help, a prosecutor told local media on Tuesday. The four teens placed an unconscious Dominick "Andy" Treemarchi, 17, in a parked car early on Sunday morning in Monaca, Pennsylvania, and tried to flee the scene, officials said. They were arrested after a neighbor spotted them and called police. Treemarchi, who was not breathing, was taken to a hospital but died, they said. The cause of death remains under investigation. Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh told the Beaver County Times that Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan law might well have shielded them from prosecution. The purpose of the law, signed over the summer by Governor Tom Corbett, was to remove fear of arrest from people weighing whether to seek help for someone overdosing on drugs or alcohol, he said. Terell Shelton, 18, of Pittsburgh, and Noah Paul Lalama, 18, of Monaca were charged with involuntary manslaughter and other offenses, as were two 17-year-old juveniles. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Sandra Maler)