SUV crashes into New Kensington hotel, driver leaves scene; 'Barbra' and 'Frank' still to sing tonight

Just less than a year after a similar crash that severed a natural gas line, another vehicle struck the Quality Inn in New Kensington early Saturday morning.

Emergency officials responded to the Tarentum Bridge Road hotel about 12:45 a.m. Saturday for a report of an SUV that had crashed into an unoccupied section of the building.

Hotel management said the vehicle crashed into a storage room, where chairs and banquet tables were found smashed against a locked door.

A Westmoreland County 911 supervisor said the driver was not there when emergency officials arrived. There were no known injuries.

The show goes on

The accident couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Dan Leo, who is working to use the hotel’s ballroom as a premiere space for musical acts.

On Saturday night, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra impersonators were scheduled to perform before a sold-out crowd.

Leo said Saturday the show would go on.

“(The show) is unimpeded by what happened — the building is structurally sound,” Leo told the Trib.

Doors were to open at 5:30 p.m. with dinner to be served at 7. The acts were set to perform at 8:30.

The show was able to be staged, in part, because the tables and chairs already had been set out in the ballroom before the SUV crashed into the storage room and damaged the remaining ones, Leo said.

Leo was in the hotel bar, Leo’s Sports Page, with a chef when the crash occurred early Saturday. He said the bar was hosting a typical Friday night crowd and nobody was acting out of the ordinary.

On Feb. 20, 2022, a car drove into the same side of the hotel, sparking a fire after a natural gas line was damaged in the crash.

Crews from New Kensington Fire Department No. 2 said a tow truck removed the Lincoln SUV and confirmed that the building was deemed structurally safe.

New Kensington police did not return calls Saturday afternoon seeking comment.

The area where the SUV struck the hotel, hopping a parking lot curb and breaking through a beige outer wall, vexed hotel management. The hole in the building was covered Saturday with a black tarp.

Quality Inn manager Jeff Stahl said he couldn’t imagine the angle or direction the driver was traveling when they slammed into the building.

“I just can’t figure out how they did it,” Stahl said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”