The 19-year-old woman who died after a chain-reaction crash on the Parkway West Tuesday afternoon has been identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
Victoria Elizabeth Brandt, of South Park, died at the hospital after being thrown from a Honda Sedan.
The sedan’s driver, an 18-year-old-man, fled on foot after the four-car crash, state police told Trib news partner WPXI-TV.
The man was later found at a GetGo convenience store in Carnegie and taken to a hospital. No charges have yet been filed.
Driver accused of causing deadly Parkway West crash ran from scene, police say -- NEXT AT 10PM ON @fox53wpgh pic.twitter.com/NjUppCi3dd
— Gordon Loesch (@WPXIGordon) March 20, 2019
About 2:30 p.m., the Honda sedan was speeding on the Parkway West, or Interstate 376, and attempting to switch lanes near the Carnegie interchange when it struck a car, police told WPXI. A tractor-trailer swerved while trying to avoid the crash and hit another car, the initial investigation indicates.
Another woman who was riding in the Honda car was taken to the hospital, WPXI reports. A woman driving another vehicle and a teen boy had minor injuries.
The crash shut down the eastbound lanes of the Parkway for nearly four hours.
“It was a very chaotic day,” state police Trooper Melinda Bondarenka told WPXI.
She said the scene took so long to clear because officials were busy assessing the vehicle damage and roadway markings, taking witness statements and piecing the evidence together.
Traffic was diverted around the wreck until about 6 p.m., when the lanes were reopened, as were the ramps from I-79 to the Parkway West, which also had been closed as a result of the crash.
Major @WPXITraffic alert! Inbound lanes of parkway west closed at Carnegie exit. Slowdowns and backups outbound near accident as well. #wpxi https://twitter.com/wpxijg/status/1108086052290510848/photo/1pic.twitter.com/gr4JRVsJdv
— Jason G (@wpxijg) March 19, 2019
Paul Guggenheimer, Jacob Tierney and Natasha Lindstrom are Tribune-Review staff writers.
