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Parrot linked to crash in South Union Twp.

By Miles Layton jmlayton@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read
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State police said a parrot may have contributed to a single-vehicle accident Tuesday that sent a Uniontown woman to the hospital.

Police said as Angel Holyfield was traveling on Township Road around 4:52 p.m. in South Union Township, she looked down at her pet parrot which was inside the vehicle.

Holyfield said the parrot likes to drink coffee, so the bird began to peck at the lid of her coffee cup while she was driving, police said.

Police said when Holyfield looked down at the bird, her vehicle went off the road and struck a guardrail.

Police spotted bird feed in the cup holder beside the coffee cup and bird feathers within the vehicle.

Holyfield was taken to Uniontown Hospital to be treated for a broken right arm and for facial lacerations sustained the vehicle’s airbags deployed, police said. The parrot was safely removed from the vehicle.

Police said the front end of Holyfield’s Honda Accord was severely damaged.

Trooper Stefani Lucas, state police, said Holyfield was not charged with any infraction, and has been released from the hospital.

Police were assisted by the Hopwood Volunteer Fire Department and Fayette EMS.

Lucas said there are not any laws that would regulate having a bird, dog or other animal in a vehicle, but she advises caution as a pet could potentially lead a motorist to be distracted while driving.

Statewide last year, 55 drivers were killed as a result of crashes where the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) attributed the cause to distracted driving. That was the lowest the number has been since 2003. There were no fatalities attributed to distracted driving in Fayette or Greene counties last year, according to PennDOT statistics.

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