Rt. 51 crash injures 3 drivers, covers the roadway with coal
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The driver of a fully loaded coal truck and two other motorists were injured -- one seriously -- after an oncoming car crashed into the truck, causing it to tip over and smash into a van on Saw Mill Run Boulevard, authorities said.
Police said witnesses told them the crash shortly before noon occurred when a northbound Toyota crossed the center line of the busy four-lane highway and hit the southbound truck near Woodruff Street, along the back side of Mount Washington.
Darrell Sapp, Post-GazetteEmergency workers assess the aftermath of an accident that closed Route 51 yesterday afternoon and sent three drivers to hospitals. A loaded coal truck swerved after hitting a car that witnesses said had crossed the center line, then overturned and slid into a van.
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Witnesses said the truck driver, identified as Frederick L. Porter, 37 , of Beaver Falls, swerved but was unable to avoid the car as it hurtled toward his truck just past an overpass leading to the Wabash Tunnel. The truck, which was loaded with 73,000 pounds of coal, tipped onto its right side and slid sideways across the northbound lanes, leaving an arc of skid marks and gouges in the pavement.
The truck then smashed into the driver's side of a northbound Ford delivery van and slammed it into a concrete traffic barricade beside the highway, about 250 feet from the first crash, police said. Coal spilled onto the highway and other vehicles veered out of the way of the wrecked vehicles.
"[Mr. Porter] had nowhere to go. [His truck] ran right into the van," said Steve Kaminski, a saleman at the Rohrich automobile parts center, which overlooks the highway. "That guy in the van got hit pretty hard."
Mr. Kaminski said parts center manager Ed Tobias, who is also a firefighter with the Pleasant Hills Fire Company, ran down the hill to help the victims until city police and paramedics arrived.
The crash forced authorities to close the highway between Woodruff and Crane Avenue for about two hours, causing traffic to back up onto the Parkway West and through the South Hills.
Witnesses said Mr. Porter was able to climb out of the truck's cab and walk to the hillside, but rescue crews needed power tools to free the driver of the Toyota, identified as Mary Ann Mancini, 54, of New Brighton, and the driver of the van, identified as Christopher Aliucci, of Burgettstown. Police said Ms. Mancini and Mr. Aliucci were taken to Allegheny General Hospital, and Mr. Porter was taken to Mercy Hospital.
Mr. Aliucci was driving a van owned by Business Records Management, which has an office in Pittsburgh. Mr. Porter was driving a truck owned by McClymonds Supply & Transit of Portersville.
Hospital officials did not release the conditions of Ms. Mancini or Mr. Aliucci last night, but authorities said Mr. Aliucci was the most severely injured victim and was in serious condition. Mercy Hospital officials last night said Mr. Porter was not a patient.
A Business Records Management spokeswoman said company officials believed Mr. Aliucci was in critical but stable condition. She said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with him," but declined further comment.
Police said last night they had not determined if charges would be filed.
Correction/Clarification: (Published Mar. 24, 2007) Ed Tobias, who rushed to help victims of a Mar. 21, 2007 crash that closed Saw Mill Run Boulevard, is a firefighter with the Pleasant Hills Volunteer Fire Co. His position was incorrect in this story as originally published Mar. 22, 2007.
First Published March 22, 2007 12:00 am
