Woman arrested for hit-and-run crash in Canton Township that injured retired professor
Courtesy of Greene-Washington Regional Police
Police have arrested a Washington woman accused of striking a 70-year-old retired professor with her car in Canton Township and leaving the scene of the crash.
Greene-Washington Regional police said Gina Marie Dalessandro was driving in the 600 block of Grove Avenue shortly before noon Monday when she struck Robert Pebley as he was walking along the street carrying bags of groceries, causing serious injuries to him.
A witness saw Pebley get hit by a silver car and thrown into the air as the motorist drove off, police said in court documents.
“We have now found a witness who says that when she hit him, she dragged him up the street before he fell off the windshield,” Greene-Washington Regional police Chief Will DeForte said Thursday. “His injuries were extensive, and for someone his age to have that much trauma, my fear was will he make it?”
Pebley suffered breaks to both legs along with a broken back and injuries to his face. He was flown by medical helicopter to an area hospital where he remains in critical condition, DeForte said.
“He had bags of groceries and if you look at the video … where the impact happens you can see all the bags and groceries just blow into the air,” DeForte said. “Thank God that there were community members responsible and caring enough to call 911 to provide this man medical care.”
Investigators reviewed surveillance video provided by the Canton Township Public Works Department from its garage near where the incident occurred that showed Pebley getting struck by a silver car that left the scene. Township Code Enforcement Officer Joe Joscsak apparently received information Wednesday about the location of the suspect’s vehicle and led police to the Ewing Street address in the city and found it parked on the street with a tarp covering the badly damaged windshield and a damaged front bumper, according to court documents.
Dalessandro told investigators she thought she had hit a deer, but she agreed to come back to the police department to give a statement. She allegedly told police she was coming off of a three-day drug “binge” and she was “really tired and dozed off” on her drive through the neighborhood Monday, according to court documents.
During the police interview, Dalessandro reiterated that she thought she had hit a deer on Grove Avenue and would have stopped if she knew it was a person. But DeForte said investigators are wary of that assertion since the crash happened in broad daylight and a witness told police Pebley had been dragged on the windshield for several seconds before falling off the car.
“Absolutely not,” DeForte said. “We are not buying that story at all.”
After the interview, Greene-Washington Regional police charged Dalessandro with accident involving injury, aggravated assault by vehicle and reckless endangerment, along with summary counts of failure to notify police, failure to stop and render aid and driving an unregistered vehicle. She was arraigned Wednesday afternoon by District Judge John Bruner and is being held at the Washington County jail on $50,000 cash bond.
DeForte thanked the Canton Township employees and township supervisors for their help in providing the surveillance video and other assistance in solving the case.