May 31, 2023 By Mike Jones newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

State police identified the vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager in Connellsville Township earlier this year after finding ice cream, which the girl had been carrying home with her when she was struck, on the pickup truck that hit her, according to testimony at the suspect’s preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Mark Lucic is accused of driving drunk when his vehicle went completely off the road near Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School about 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5 and struck and killed 16-year-old Bailey Lentz as she walked home along East Crawford Avenue with dessert from Dairy Queen.

Lucic didn’t stop, but was found by police about two hours later parked at a gas station nearly three miles away, where they found evidence the pickup truck had been involved in a crash, state police Trooper Christopher Keffer testified.

Keefer said they found dried ice cream and soda pop on Lucic’s truck, along with pieces of a plastic fence that dotted the perimeter of the high school. Keffer said Lucic stopped at the gas station because he had a flat tire, but he had no recollection about the crash or most of the drive from Seven Springs, where he was visiting on a work trip.

“He thought he was at the barracks for a DUI,” Keffer said. “He (told investigating troopers) that he didn’t know he was in an accident.”

Lucic refused to consent to a blood draw, so Keffer said they had to get a search warrant to obtain a sample, which showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .259% – more than three times the legal limit to drive a vehicle – about four hours after the crash. Inside his truck, troopers found a vodka bottle and a 30-pack of light beer, although there were no open containers in the vehicle.

Lucic’s attorney, Ryan James, argued that there was no proof that his client was intoxicated at the time of the crash because he may have consumed alcohol while waiting in the gas station parking lot. He asked District Judge Ron Haggerty, who presided over the preliminary hearing in Fayette County Central Court, to consider that Lucic’s blood-alcohol level might be higher if he drank alcohol in the two-hour window between the crash and his arrest.

But Fayette County Assistant District Attorney Wendy O’Brien reiterated Keffer’s testimony that Lucic did not remember much of the drive from the ski resort while coming through the area.

Haggerty agreed, and ordered Lucic to stand trial on all charges, including homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while DUI, aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, accident involving death and aggravated assault by vehicle, along with several summary offenses.

Lucic, 42, of Ontario, Canada, looked down mostly as he listening to testimony while shackled and wearing a prison jumpsuit. He has been held without bond since his arrest.

Keffer testified that Lentz initially had a pulse following the crash, but she was taken to Highlands Hospital in Connellsville, where she died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck, body and extremities.

After the hearing, family members of Lentz consoled each other. Her mother, Dani Mullen, who was wearing a “Justice for Bailey” button along with other relatives, urged people to drive sober or get a ride-share service if they do drink.

“Don’t drink and drive, and don’t flee the scene,” Mullen said after the hearing while holding back tears. “Now we have to go through all this.”