Police searching for man suspected in Derry Township hit and run, woman remains hospitalized

State troopers are urging a man to surrender after they charged him Tuesday in connection with a hit-and-run in Derry Township that left a Latrobe woman seriously injured.

Trooper Steve Limani said authorities had not been successful Wednesday in locating Bobby Paul Bryer, 30, who might be driving the same red Dodge pickup police believe was involved in Saturday’s hit-and-run outside Union Mission.

“He knows we’re looking for him; there’s no doubt about that … it’s just a matter of at what point in time do you realize that it’s in (his) best interest to turn (himself) in,” Limani said. “That’s where we’re at, and that’s what we’re hoping he does.”

Bryer has an address on Vernon Avenue listed on court papers, but Limani said the man is transient and has family across the country. The 2018 red Dodge pickup has registration plate ZNR-3449. The vehicle is believed to have sustained damage to the right front side.

Bryer is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle, accidents involving death or personal injury and several related offenses, including speeding.

Mary Bathurst, 42, was seriously injured when a truck hit her outside Union Mission, where she works as a facility attendant. She was walking along the berm of Harrison Avenue before 6 p.m. to take out the trash with two shelter residents. Police said the collision knocked her 40 feet away, where she slammed into a wooden fence. The driver stopped briefly at the scene just outside of Latrobe and then fled. Bathurst remains in a hospital, though she is expected to survive.

“I think that is probably the worst part about the incident is that there was definitely acknowledgement that there has been someone that was hurt and then the decision of, ‘I’m still going to not come forward,’ ” Limani said. “ ‘Now I’m continuing to do a bad course of action by not coming forward and turning myself in.’ ”

Related:

• State police continue to investigate hit-and-run accident in Derry Township that injured woman
• Police: Hit-and-run crash critically injures Latrobe woman

Troopers were led to Bryer by an acquaintance Tuesday, according to court papers.

The woman told investigators Bryer visited her home Sunday and told her husband he hit something on the side of the road the night before after drinking, police say. On Tuesday, police talked to Bryer’s wife, who said he left their home to pick up food and, when he returned, admitted to hitting something on the side of the road, according to court papers.

The wife told authorities Bryer knew he had hit a person, police say. Their address is less than a half-mile from Union Mission.

Troopers believe he is still in possession of the pickup involved in the hit-and-run. Limani pleaded with Bryer to surrender to law enforcement.

“Running and trying to prolong this will just make it worse, and that’s not what we’re looking to do,” he said. “I think the most important part is there was a woman who was injured, horrifically, in this crash.”

Bryer does not have a criminal history in Pennsylvania, but he has received 13 traffic citations since 2013, according to court records. Five were speeding tickets, including two on the same day in South and Southwest Greensburg, as well as another for which he was clocked driving more than 100 mph on a Fayette County road, records show.

Others involve driving unregistered vehicles and following too closely.

Anyone with information on Bryer’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or state police Kiski station at 724-697-5780.