Couple killed in motorcycle wreck
Two people were killed in a motorcycle accident on Route 136 in Somerset Township just after 4 p.m. Sunday.
James Edward Martin, 55, of Carl Avenue, Eighty Four, was operating the motorcycle and Dawn Lynn Stonesifer, 54, of Spinning Way, Chartiers Township, was his passenger, said Washington County Coroner Tim Warco. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Warco said the cause and manner of their deaths is pending an autopsy.
The crash happened in the westbound lane in the 2400 block of Route 136, just east of Rolling Green Golf Course.
Warco said Martin lost control of the motorcycle, which went off onto the berm and crashed.
The motorcycle crashed in front of Patti Spinnenweber’s home. She said her husband, Dave Spinnenweber, had been in an adjacent field cutting hay. She had gone out to the field to help him unhook a wagon in the field.
“The next thing I saw was a bunch of dust,” Spinnenweber said, adding she did not see the crash.
Another motorcycle rider who had apparently been riding with the pair was not sure what happened, Patti Spinnenweber said. A nurse attempted to assist the two motorcycle riders, she added.
Firefighters had set up a landing zone in the Spinnenwebers’ field for Lifeflight.
Patti Spinnenweber said that stretch of Route 136 is often the scene of vehicle crashes.
Route 136 was rerouted in both directions while the crash was investigated by state police. It reopened in both directions about 7 p.m..
Assisting were firefighters from Valley Inn and Fallowfield townships. Also assisting were TriCommunity and Bearcat emergency medical services and Allegheny General Hospital Paramedic Response Unit.