Rockwood woman killed in truck accident
CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – A 44-year-old Rockwood woman was killed early Friday afternoon when she apparently lost control of the tri-axel truck she was driving on Springfield Pike and crashed into a number of trees before the truck came to rest on its side on the opposite side of the roadway. Fayette County deputy coroner Jessie Langer said Tammy E. Boucher was pronounced dead at 1:58 p.m.
Connellsville Township Assistant Fire Chief Bob Leiberger said a number of eyewitnesses said that the truck came around a corner and Boucher appeared to loose control of the truck. Police said the truck was traveling south on Route 711 (Springfield Pike) when it ran off the road and then crossed back over both lanes, traveled through two yards, striking four trees before coming to rest on the truck’s driver’s side.
The truck narrowly missed crashing into a house at 1324 Springfield Pike where Heather Kent resides. Kent, who was visibly shaken following the accident, said the truck came to rest beside her house after spilling its load of stone and hitting her pit bull Nikita.
“It was awful,” said a weeping Kent. “When I got up to the truck the lady driver told me to tell her kids and grandkids that she loved them.”
Kent said it broke her heart. She also said that Nikita was thrown 25 to 30 feet and when she picked her up she noticed that her face was bleeding. Kent said she feed Nikita and she seemed to be all right about 45 minutes after the accident.
Connie Osler of 1330 Springfield Pike said she heard and felt the wreck before she knew what had happened.
“I felt a rumbling and I thought that the house was coming down,” said Osler. “The rumbling was all of the trees being uprooted in my front yard by the truck. I think the driver hit the trees on purpose trying not to hit the house and if that’s the case it worked because she saved the people in the houses, but she didn’t save herself.”
Jonathan Jackson and Charles Osler said they were asleep when they heard a big bang that woke them up.
“When we looked out the window we saw the truck in the side yard and the stone from the truck was in Heather’s basement,” said Jackson, who was staying overnight at Osler’s house.
He also said that there have been quite a number of accidents on that section of Springfield Pike. Osler said he and his family have trouble pulling in and out of their driveway because they live on the corner of the hill.
“We usually have to wait quite a while before we can get out of the driveway because traffic on this road goes so fast,” said Osler. “People just don’t pay attention to the speed limit, which is clearly posted at 35 mph through here.”
Osler additionally said that the house next door to Kent’s has been hit several times.
Dora Keffer, who lives at the bottom of Springfield Pike, said she has seen many accidents on the road.
“The hill is very, very treacherous,” said Keffer. “They need runaway ramps on this hill and they don’t have them. A couple of months ago a car went through a house down below me.”
Tammy Wascak of Dunbar Township, who grew up on Springfield Pike, agreed with Keffer and said a couple of years ago a truck went into her parents’ house. She also said that a truck took out a house beside her parents’ house.
“My parents (the late Kenneth Hough and Nancy Hough) kept going to PennDOT and telling them that it’s going to happen again and no one ever did anything about it. I think they came out and looked at the situation but nothing was ever done about it.”
Wascak said her mother has since moved off Springfield Pike, but she said it’s still a worry because several of their relatives still live there.
“This road wasn’t built for all of this heavy truck traffic,” said Wascak. “This is a scenic route. I hate to say it but now that this lady got killed maybe PennDOT will do something about it.”
Wascak said it was lucky that another car or a school bus wasn’t coming up the hill. She additionally said if a school bus had been coming in the opposite direction it would have been a disaster.
Trooper Joseph T. Sibal is investigating the crash. Connellsville Township Volunteer Fire Co. and Fayette EMS assisted at the scene.
Leiberger said he expected traffic to be tied up on Springfield Pike until about 10 p.m. Friday.