Three flown to hospital after chase ends in two-vehicle crash in South Strabane
Jeff Valentine was at work in South Strabane Township about midday Friday when he heard a loud noise. Outside, he saw a state trooper with his gun drawn near a sport utility vehicle that had just rammed a water truck at Route 19 and Racetrack Road.
“It was so loud that I was in my dungeon in the back and I could hear – it sounded like it hit the building,” Valentine said of his office in the basement.
State police said three people were flown by helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital following the crash, which ended a police chase that began when the driver of an SUV appeared to flee from a trooper on Interstate 79, police said. The driver of the SUV was identified as Deja Weaver, 18, of Pittsburgh.
Two passengers, Nasstylejah Wilkerson, 21, of Houtzdale, and an unidentified 17-year-old, along with Weaver, sustained serious injuries, according to state police.
Trooper Robert Broadwater, a state police spokesman, said a trooper was initially driving north on the interstate with lights and sirens on because of an unrelated disabled vehicle call, but the SUV “sped off at a high rate of speed” while the trooper was behind it.
“This caused suspicion for the trooper, who traveled off of the Houston exit, and made a right on 519,” Broadwater said. “The trooper then began to follow and pursue (the vehicle) a little bit, still with the lights and sirens on.”
The vehicle turned right onto Route 19 and drove south to Racetrack Road, where it hit the truck during a botched right-hand turn. Broadwater said the SUV reached speeds over 90 mph.
“When I came outside, the cop screamed at (the SUV driver) to show him his hands,” said Valentine, who manages Distribution Solutions LLC in Meadows Professional Center.
His colleague, Jay Bomgaars, was standing outside the building when the crash occurred.
“I look up and the car just barrels into the side of that water truck,” said Bomgaars, who lives in San Antonio and was in town on business. He spoke to a reporter on the phone while he drove to the airport.
Bomgaars said the marked police car pursuing the SUV had its lights on, but “I couldn’t hear any sirens coming.”
Broadwater maintained the trooper kept both his lights and sirens on during the chain of events that led to the crash.
“From the information that I have right now, yes, they were on,” Broadwater said.