Woman who crashed in Penn Twp. dies
The woman, who was ejected from the Kia she was driving when it crashed into a utility pole near the former Days Inn in Penn Township on Friday, has died.
Vanessa Elizabeth Morrison, 31, of Slippery Rock, died at 10 p.m. Sunday in a Pittsburgh hospital, said John Hays, Butler Township Police chief.
Hays said an Allegheny County coroner’s report stated that Morrison died from blunt force trauma to her head and trunk that she suffered in the crash.
When the Kia Morrison was driving crashed into the pole around 7:15 a.m. near the Bean Street intersection with Route 8, the engine and transmission dislodged from the car.
LifeFlight landed at Greater Butler Mart and transported Morrison to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Hays said township officers retrieved and reviewed security camera footage from both West Central Tractor and Tesla Biohealing, which now owns the former Days Inn property.
“That shed some light on it,” Hays said of the crash. “We’re still looking into it.”
He said police have no idea why Morrison was driving so aggressively, which was reported to police by multiple witnesses.
“It’s tragic that it happened, but if her car had gone into (oncoming traffic on) Route 8, it could have been a lot worse,” Hays said of the crash.
A witness told the Butler Eagle that a vehicle resembling the one that crashed had entered Route 8 from Dodds Road in Penn Township Friday morning and began traveling erratically and aggressively in the northbound lane.
The witness said the vehicle used the Country Kitchen parking lot to pass vehicles on the right.
Morrison was born March 1, 1991, in New Castle. Her interests included the outdoors and nature, biking, running half-marathons, spending time at Breakneck and McConnells Mill, and good music, according to her obituary.
Smith Funeral Home in Slippery Rock is handling the funeral arrangements. Her obituary is on Page 8.
