Zane Rupert

Testimony from the driver of a tractor trailer and its dashboard camera video, along with toxicology reports, indicate David Faulx was driving drunk during the crash that killed his young grandson and himself, according to state police reports.

Faulx and his grandson, Zane Rupert, 12, died when the Jeep that Faulx was driving struck the tractor trailer as it rolled over at 9:58 p.m. Oct. 13 on Winfield Road in Winfield Township.

“As a result of this investigation, it is concluded that this crash was the result of Faulx being intoxicated and incapable of safely operating a motor vehicle,” Trooper Jason Gueck said in a report, which was shared with the Butler Eagle by Zane’s father, Josh Rupert, of Penn Township, on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The Butler Eagle requested the toxicology reports in November and were told the reports were not public access documents. The Butler Eagle reached out Saturday to state police for comment.

Faulx, of Cabot, would have turned 66 on Sunday, but instead, the results of his decision to drink and drive with his grandson in the vehicle are being reported and shared throughout Butler County and beyond.

Gueck said in his report that he interviewed the driver of the tractor trailer, 29-year-old Hunter Cathcart, at the scene, where he learned the truck was equipped with a dashboard camera.

The report said Larry Barr, deputy county coroner, took a blood sample from Faulx at the scene, where he and Zane were pronounced dead.

Cathcart told Gueck he noticed the headlights of the approaching Jeep driven by Faulx tilting when the vehicles neared a bend, and that “he knew the Jeep was starting to roll from the headlights.”

Gueck viewed the truck’s dashcam footage and on Nov. 2, obtained the results of the blood sample taken from Faulx at the scene, according to the report.

The blood test showed Faulx had a blood alcohol content of .246% at the time of the crash. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is .08%.

Josh Rupert shared his feelings on the report in a Facebook post, which shared his pain at a man his son admired being responsible for his death.

“I had the feeling I knew the answers the whole time,” Rupert said in the post. “My son’s accident was not an accident.”

Zane was a Knoch Middle School student and member of the Saxonburg Spartans football team.

“I now have to go the rest of my life without him,” Rupert said in the post. “I don’t get to watch him grow up. I don’t get to watch him graduate. I don’t get to watch him get married and have a family of his own.”