State police have issued a traffic citation to the dump truck driver linked to a freak chain-reaction accident that ended when an electrician was fatally struck by a huge utility pole on Route 422 in Muddy Creek Township.

Phae D. Cutchall III, 51, of New Castle on Wednesday was sent the ticket alleging he failed to yield the right of way to other traffic about 2 p.m. July 17 when he pulled his dump truck onto the highway.

Moments later, a car broadsided and broke a portion of the 105-foot pole that was stretched across both travel lanes and a turn lane.

Allan Mark Greenwood, 29, of Belle Vernon, Fayette County, a lineman for Bruce & Merrilees Electric of New Castle, was killed when a tri-axle truck hit the pole that he was attempting to reattach to the dump truck.

While police cited Cutchall for the alleged traffic violation, the criminal investigation continues, Lt. Eric Hermick said Thursday.

Specifically, Hermick said, investigators are considering if Cutchall’s driving was “reckless” enough to warrant criminal charges in Greenwood’s death.

Police also are investigating if there was a lack of warning signs and traffic control devices posing a possible hazard to motorists on Route 422 near the Pilot convenience store, the site of the fatality.

Jonathan Bruce, the chief operating officer and vice president for Bruce & Merrilees, in a recent interview with the Butler Eagle, insisted his company and work crew had taken adequate safety precautions.

Additionally, the criminal probe is considering Michael D. Lindsay’s role in the accident, police said,

Lindsay, 66, of North Washington was driving the tri-axle truck that clipped the pole, which swung up and struck Greenwood in the head. Authorities did not know Lindsay’s identity until a day after the accident. Police said he did not stop and continued westbound on Route 422.

“He claimed he was unaware that his truck had hit anything,” Hermick said, “or that any accident had occurred.” He contacted police July 18 after learning from media reports that authorities were looking for the driver of an orange tri-axle truck that matched the description of the vehicle that he was driving.

The odd series of events began as the Bruce & Merrilees work crew attempted to haul the 6,400-pound utility pole using a dump truck, trailer and line truck.

The pole, designated for a PennDOT wireless communication system project in Mercer County, had earlier been dropped off at a gravel parking lot to the south side of Route 422.

Cutchall pulled out in the dump truck as he tried to make a wide left turn onto the highway. The cargo blocked all three lanes.

Shortly after, police said, an eastbound 2003 Ford Focus driven by 64-year-old David Evans of New Castle slammed into the pole.

Hermick said Evans was not given sufficient warning to stop and was unable to avoid hitting the pole. Police believe the car was traveling under the posted 45 mph speed limit.

A 5- to 10-foot piece of the pole broke off and landed on the road. In turn, Greenwood, a lineman for the company, attempted to resecure the pole to the line truck.

But two or three minutes later, Lindsay’s truck, owned by PNM Trucking, a subsidiary of Lindy Paving of Beaver County, tried to go around the pole but instead hit it. “He was just following other traffic,” Hermick said of Lindsay.

Police said workers were “waving through” other motorists to maneuver around the pole using the side of the road. Investigators suspect Lindsay’s truck was going only 2 to 5 mph when it made “incidental contact” with the pole, which swung around and hit Greenwood in his head.

Greenwood was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lindsay, who did not stop, appeared at the Butler police barracks the next day. He was interviewed and provided investigators a written statement. “He was very distraught that his truck may have been involved in it,” Hermick said.

Police inspected Lindsay’s truck, which had no damage. “We’ve waiting to determine if there was gross negligence with his driving through and hitting the pole,” Hermick said. “But it doesn’t appear from witnesses accounts that that was the case.”

Investigators, however, suspect the work crew “did not have traffic control devices in place to prevent this from happening,” Hermick said.

But Bruce claimed otherwise. “We believe we were doing everything we were supposed to be doing,” he previously told the Butler Eagle. He said the company had all necessary safety measures in place, including a well marked vehicle that was on the road to warn motorists.

That escort vehicle, Bruce said, was positioned — about 400 yards from the crash site — in the center lane facing westbound traffic as the dump truck pulled out with pole in tow.

It was equipped, he said, with a pair of flashing beacons on top and daytime running lights, and marked with large, yellow “Oversized Load” signs in black lettering. Also, a warning flag was attached to the pole and a 3-foot-wide light bar was mounted toward the back of it.

Still, Hermick said there were no posted signs to alert other motorists of the work area ahead.

“I think they should have stopped traffic for however long it would have taken to move that pole,” he said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, meanwhile, is also investigating the crash.