A U.S. Postal Service truck driver whose vehicle crashed into a North Huntingdon house Thursday morning died at Excela Westmoreland Hospital, the Westmoreland County coroner said.
The victim, Ronald Sopko, 47, of Murrysville, apparently died as a result of a medical event, said Coroner Kenneth Bacha. The coroner’s office was notified of the driver’s death around noon.
Bacha said there were no signs that the driver suffered some type of trauma as a result of the accident along Main Street in the Fairmont-Hahntown section of the township.
The mail truck was traveling south when it went over an embankment and hit the porch at 790 Main St. around 10:15 a.m. Initial reports from the county Department of Public Safety indicated the driver had suffered cardiac arrest.
Sopko had been working for the U.S. Postal Service as a full-time letter carrier at the Irwin Carrier Annex Branch in North Huntingdon for five years, said Tad Kelley, a Postal Service spokesman in Pittsburgh.
The accident, which occurred about 100 yards from the Fairmont-Hahntown fire department, temporarily closed a section of Main Street for about an hour.
North Huntingdon police investigated the crash but declined comment.
Sopko was wearing a seatbelt.
An autopsy will be performed Friday.
Gilbert Funeral Home of Boston will handle the funeral arrangements.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.
