Police investigate cause of West Deer head-on crash that sent 2 to hospital

Police continue to investigate the cause of a head-on, two-car collision in West Deer that sent two people to the hospital on Sunday.

“It’s being reconstructed,” West Deer police Chief Jon Lape said Monday. “The reconstruction should tell us what occurred.”

The collision happened shortly after 1 p.m. on Middle Road, near Gibsonia Road, police said. Gibsonia Road is also known as Route 910.

The chief identified the drivers of the cars as Jose Pineda, 35, of Brackenridge, and Helen Cavanaugh, 86, of West Deer. Both people were the only occupants of their respective cars, Lape said.

Lape said Pineda had been driving north and Cavanaugh had been southbound when, for an unknown reason, their cars collided.

“The cars collided head-on around one of the curves in the road,” Lape said.

Lape said Cavanaugh was “probably a mile from her residence” when the wreck happened.

Cavanaugh suffered lower body and face injuries and was taken by paramedics to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Lape said. Paramedics brought Pineda to UPMC Passavant in McCandless with a leg injury.

Pineda was released from the hospital on Sunday, Lape said. Cavanaugh remained at the hospital in stable condition on Monday, Lape said.

The wreck closed the intersection for about four hours, Lape said. It reopened around 5 p.m.

“Once we do some further investigation, it will show what happened,” the chief said.