Woman arrested for suspicion of DUI, charges pending investigation after fatal crash on 422
A Beaver County woman, who three days earlier asked the court to expunge her first DUI offense, was arrested for suspicion of DUI following a fatal crash Thursday on Route 422 that killed a Butler Eagle employee, according to state police.
Kassandra Marie Clyde, 24, of Fombell, Beaver County, could face charges, including homicide by vehicle for DUI, pending lab results of a blood draw and completion of an investigation by a collision analysis and reconstruction specialist, state police said Friday, May 5.
The investigation is expected to take about two weeks.
Police said James Barge, 65, of New Castle, was on his way home from his job as a pressman for the Butler Eagle when he suffered fatal injuries from the crash.
The crash occurred around 1:15 a.m. at the intersection of Route 422 and Unionville Road in Franklin Township, near the Big Butler Fairgrounds.
Barge was driving west on Route 422 in a Toyota Camry, and Clyde was driving east in her Honda CR-V, police said.
The crash report showed Clyde’s vehicle crossed into Barge’s lane of travel, over solid yellow lines and a turning lane, before striking his vehicle.
Clyde was accepted into Butler County's accelerated rehabilitative disposition on Oct. 17, 2022 after Zelienople police charged her with driving under the influence of alcohol following an April 19, 2022, traffic stop.
According to the affidavit for the stop, police pulled Clyde over for expired registration on her vehicle.
She showed signs of impairment during field sobriety tests and an on-scene breath test showed Clyde’s blood alcohol content at 0.210%. A chemical blood test at UPMC Passavant showed her blood alcohol content at 0.174%.
In Pennsylvania, the legal limit is 0.08%.
The ARD program is usually for first-time offenders. The program is intended to encourage offenders to make a fresh start after participating in a rehabilitative program and offers them the possibility of dismissal of charges and the expungement of their arrest record upon completion of the program.
Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy McCune’s order placing her in the ARD program included a 60-day suspension of her driver's license and required her to serve 12 months of probation and complete eight hours of litter pickup and alcohol highway safety school.
Charges of DUI general impairment and driving an unregistered vehicle were dismissed.
The ARD order postponed proceedings on the charges in the complaint filed by police while she was in the program.
If she violated a condition of the program or was charged with a new offense while on probation, she would have been removed from the program and the court would order the district attorney's office to proceed as allowed by law.
Anyone who completes the program is able to apply to have the charges dismissed and the court could dismiss the charges. They also would be able to seek expungement of the case from their records, according to the order.
The state Department of Transportation maintains a record of the offender’s acceptance into the program for 10 years and expunges that record at the end of the 10-year period without an order from the court, according to the order.
Court records reveal that Clyde completed the program on April 19 this year after picking up litter on Nov. 3, 2022, and her penalty was considered satisfied on Feb. 8, this year.
She applied for early termination from ARD supervision on April 18, and it was granted on April 19.
She submitted a petition for expungement on May 2.
After Thursday’s crash, Clyde was taken by Butler Ambulance Service to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh to be treated for serious injuries. According to a media specialist at Allegheny Health Network, they have no patient with that name on their registry.
Eagle correspondent Jim Smith and Eagle staff writers Steve Ferris and Molly Miller contributed to this report.
