Driver in fatal Route 28 crash recovering, district attorney reviewing case

A 76-year-old man who was driving a Corvette involved in a fatal crash Monday on Route 28 is expected to survive, a state police spokesman said.

Fred Fattman of Brackenridge was in stable condition Thursday, Trooper Joshua Black said.

He had suffered serious injuries and was in critical condition when flown to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh after the one-car crash Monday afternoon near the Millerstown exit (Exit 15) in Harrison.

The passenger, Robert Mark Walters, 68, of Fawn, was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to a release late Friday from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, Walters died from blunt force injuries to the head, trunk and extremities. His death was ruled an accident.

A Harrison native, Walters was a 1971 graduate of Highlands High School who lived his entire life in the Tarentum and Natrona Heights area. He was a retired vending machine service technician, according to his obituary.

Services and interment for Walters will be private, with arrangements handled by Duster Funeral Home in Tarentum.

State police said Fattman was driving a 2015 Corvette south on Route 28 at a high speed when he lost control. The car went into the passing lane shoulder and spun into the right berm, where it hit an embankment and overturned.

Black said the crash investigation is still open pending further investigations and interviews.

Black said the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office was contacted about the crash, which he said is standard procedure.

Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said the office is reviewing information provided by state police. He could not say when that review will be complete.

Fattman’s brother, George Fattman, contends his brother was not speeding down the highway. George Fattman said his brother has said that he had pulled off on the shoulder briefly and was about to get back on the highway when he turned his head sharply to look for traffic, causing him to black out and jam his foot on the gas pedal.

In addition to suffering numerous injuries in the crash, George Fattman said doctors found his brother also has a heart condition and was scheduled to receive a pacemaker.

Mark Levine, a brother-in-law of Walters who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., with Walter’s sister, Janice, said that Walters and Fred Fattman were longtime best friends.

The family said they were not sure if Walters had ever ridden in the Corvette with Fred Fattman before that day, in part because it was too low to the ground for him to get into.