Tarentum man charged in fatal Route 28 crash last year

A 77-year-old Tarentum man faces homicide by vehicle charges in connection with a one-car crash that killed another man last year on Route 28 in Harrison.

State police say Frederick Fattman was behind the wheel of a 2015 Corvette on July 5, 2021, when he allegedly lost control and hit an embankment, killing front-seat passenger Robert Walters.

According to the criminal complaint, the car’s data recorder indicated the Corvette hit 145 mph before the crash.

Witnesses who also were traveling on Route 28 southbound told investigators they saw the red Corvette pulled off on the right shoulder and then sped past them just before the crash, according to the complaint.

One witness said it looked like the driver was “jerking the wheel back and forth intentionally,” according to the complaint. Another said that as the Corvette passed on their left, it drove off the left side of the road and then slid across both lanes and into the embankment.

Police said Fattman told them after the crash that he “wasn’t planning on going that fast.”

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The state trooper wrote that Fattman told him, “I usually just open it up a little bit, maybe 60, 70, 80 at the most and then take it right back down.”

Fattman’s brother, George Fattman, told the Tribune-Review in the days after the crash that his brother wasn’t speeding, but rather had just turned his head sharply to check for traffic as he pulled back onto the highway, causing him to black out and jam on the gas pedal.

In addition to homicide by vehicle, Fattman is charged with involuntary manslaughter and several moving violations.

Court records did not list an attorney for Fattman as of Thursday afternoon. A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.