Truck hits, kills man in Connellsville
A 75-year-old man was killed Friday morning while crossing a street in Connellsville. Police Chief Stephen Cooper said that Jerome Betters of North Eighth Street in Connellsville was crossing that street, heading toward the plaza that houses the Valley Dairy, when a traffic signal turned to green.
Daniel Tims, 25, of Rockwood was at the traffic light in a tri-axle truck and put the truck in gear and started to move forward, hitting Betters, Cooper said.
Tims was heading northbound on North Eighth Street, which is the name for the stretch of Route 119 that runs through the city. The accident occurred near the new traffic signal along that stretch of road near the entrance to the plaza in which Martin’s grocery store is located.
Cooper said traffic was stopped at the intersection, and Betters was trying to cross from the east side of the street to the west side, toward Valley Dairy, where Cooper said he may have been heading.
“The driver never saw him,” Cooper said, noting that there was numerous witnesses to the accident.
Cooper said Tims was driving a 1999 International rig.
After the accident, Betters was flown to UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. He was pronounced dead around 11 a.m., Cooper said.
He indicated that the Allegheny County coroner’s office will do a toxicology screen, which is routine in these types of cases.