Chicora crash hospitalizes driver and girl passenger
State police have released additional information about a Friday afternoon single-vehicle crash that sent its driver and an 8-year-old girl passenger to the hospital.
Police said the girl was sitting in the third row of a Town and Country minivan that crashed around 4:32 p.m. on West Slippery Rock Street, Chicora.
“(The girl) was transported via medical helicopter with serious injuries,” police said.
Also injured in the crash was the vehicle’s driver, identified as Destiny L. Gray, 29, of Gibsonia, who was taken by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital. Police said they will cite Gray for reckless driving that led to the crash.
“This crash occurred as (the van) was traveling at a high rate of speed at which point it traveled across the train tracks on West Slippery Rock Street, ” police said.
Police said as the van crossed the tracks, it lunged into the air, and when it landed, Gray lost control of the vehicle. Police said the vehicle then left the road to the south and hit a house, the force of which caused the van to roll onto its side.
Assistant Fire Chief Ray Emery of the Chicora Volunteer Fire Department said the van was heavily damaged but caused only minimal damage to the home’s porch.
Emery said no one inside the house was injured in the crash, and the homeowner was outside speaking with officials when he arrived on the scene.
Police said a 20-year-old North Washington man, a 16-year-old Butler girl and a 17-year-old Eau Claire girl also were in the vehicle at the time of the crash. Police said all of those passengers refused transport for medical attention or evaluation.
Butler Ambulance Service and East Butler Ambulance also assisted at the scene, which was cleared around 6 p.m.
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