Charleroi driver sentenced
A Charleroi man was sentenced Wednesday to 23 months in an alternative-sentencing program and ordered to pay more than $10,000 in restitution on criminal charges stemming from a fatal 2014 crash on Interstate 70 in South Strabane Township that killed a well-known youth sports coach and severely injured his teenage son.
Washington County Judge Michael J. Lucas ordered Bryan D. Anthony, 37, to complete 23 months in the county intermediate punishment program on each of two charges – involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault by vehicle – he pleaded guilty to in May in connection with the death of Brian L. Anselmino, 45, of North Strabane Township, and the injuries to Anselmino’s son, Anthony, then 13. The Feb. 22, 2014, crash occurred on I-70 near the south junction with Interstate 79 and involved four vehicles.
Denise Anselmino, the victim’s wife, attended the hearing with a relative and several victim advocates. She read a statement to the court before Lucas handed down the sentence in which she described the ways the crash has affected her family.
“You took away the life that we all had,” she told Anthony.
Denise Anselmino said she stopped working following the accident. Her husband’s death “devastated” his parents, who were unable to attend the hearing.
Her son, Anthony, recalls the accident in vivid detail. His twin sister, Danielle, is also traumatized by the loss of her father.
“She feels lonely most of the time, even when we’re all together,” Denise Anselmino said.
His death was on the eighth anniversary of the death of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Amanda Pauline Anselmino, from an illness, according to the girl’s obituary.
Anselmino was a father, a youth sports coach and a former Canon-McMillan High School assistant basketball coach. He had been a standout basketball player at Ringgold High School and Duquesne University.
Anthony was driving west when his car crossed the median and hit Anselmino’s sport utility vehicle, which rolled on its side. Anselmino’s vehicle then hit a tractor-trailer, which then went across the median into the westbound lanes, jackknifed and was hit by a fourth vehicle. Police said Anthony was driving 68 mph in a 55-mph zone.
Anthony, who attended the hearing with a friend, quietly told the court he was sorry for the accident and said he and his family have felt its aftershocks, too.
He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and said fallout in the community has forced his children to withdraw from the local school district and enroll in a cyber charter.
“It has affected us in more ways than I can say,” he said.
Lucas noted Anthony’s lack of a prior criminal record as he explained the sentence.
He ordered Anthony to serve the sentences on each of the two charges concurrently. Anthony will be on electronic home monitoring for the first 90 days of the sentence, in line with sentencing recommendations agreed upon by both sides in the case.
The judge also ordered Anthony to pay the Anselmino family $10,056 in restitution to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses and funeral costs. Lucas’ decision allows the state to amend the amount of restitution to cover additional out-of-pocket expenses if the Anselminos incur them.
Lucas also ordered Anthony to pay fines for each of three traffic offenses in the case.