Victim in fatal Point Breeze rollover crash was Allderdice grad

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the teen killed in a Point Breeze car crash early Thursday as a Pittsburgh Allderdice High School graduate from Squirrel Hill.

Jakob James Sirlin, 18, was killed and three others hospitalized after a vehicle rollover crash on Beechwood Boulevard, according to Pittsburgh police.

Pittsburgh EMS, firefighters and police officers were dispatched at 12:50 a.m. to the 1200 block of Beechwood Boulevard for the single-vehicle crash involving four teens, police said.

Police said three of the teens inside the vehicle — the driver and two passengers — were able to escape after it had flipped over in the crash.

The fourth victim, Sirlin, had been pinned inside the vehicle, they said.

Sirlin was pronounced dead at the scene at 1 a.m., the medical examiner’s office said. Police Thursday did not release the names of the other people inside the vehicle.

Sirlin had attended Taylor Allderdice in Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Ebony Pugh, a Pittsburgh Public Schools spokesperson, told TribLive. The teenager had just graduated this spring.

“(Jakob’s) loss will be deeply felt within the Allderdice community and beyond,” Pugh said in a prepared statement. “Our thoughts are also with the other young individuals involved in this tragedy, and we wish them strength and healing during this difficult time.”

Jack Cohen, a longtime friend of Sirlin’s, said he will be remembered for his honesty, loyalty and kindness.

”What I admired most about Jakob was his loyalty. Once you were his friend, you were his friend for life. He showed up. He stood by you. He had your back, no matter what. That kind of loyalty is priceless, and I was lucky to have it in him,” Cohen said in a statement to TribLive on Friday.

Cohen described Sirlin as straightforward saying, “You never had to guess what Jakob was thinking—he told it to you straight. And somehow, that honesty never hurt — it helped.”

Sirlin’s family declined comment.

The driver and other passengers were taken to local hospitals, police said. One passenger was hospitalized in critical condition; the driver and other passenger remained in stable condition.

Pittsburgh police are investigating.