Police still looking for red pickup that injured Latrobe woman in hit-and-run

State police are still looking for a red Dodge pickup truck involved in a hit-and-run nearly six weeks ago that left a Latrobe woman seriously injured.

Trooper John Robertson Jr. testified Wednesday that he has asked the father of the man accused of driving it at the time of the crash — Bobby Paul Bryer, 30, formerly of Latrobe — for access to the pickup as part of the investigation. Bryer’s father is the registered owner.

Robertson said he considers the pickup a piece of evidence in the Jan. 22 crash outside Union Mission in Derry Township. Thus far, his request has gone unfulfilled.

“So they’re keeping it from you?” Assistant District Attorney Mike Pacek asked during a preliminary hearing for Bryer.

“Yes,” Robertson responded.

Charges of aggravated assault by vehicle, accidents involving injury and related offenses were ordered held for court by District Judge Kelly Tua Hammers after the hour-long hearing. State police accuse Bryer, who court records indicate now lives in Georgia, of driving the truck and hitting Mary Bathurst, who was working as a facility attendant at the Union Mission. Troopers said he fled the scene. They used witness statements to identify him as the suspect and filed charges three days after the crash.

David Raught testified that he and Bathurst walked along the side of Harrison Avenue just before 6 p.m. to throw away some items in a nearby trash receptacle when Bathurst was struck by a red pickup and thrown 40 feet into a wooden fence. The driver stopped briefly — Raught estimated less than 30 seconds — and then drove away.

“I don’t remember hearing the truck, no, just the impact,” he said.

Robertson estimated the pickup was going between 45 and 55 mph on the residential street just outside of Latrobe. He described the truck as a “blur” on surveillance footage because of the speed at which it was traveling.

A tip from an acquaintance of Bryer helped police identify him as the suspect. Robertson testified that Bryer initially claimed to have hit a trash can but later admitted to striking a woman during a conversation with the acquaintance.

Sophie Bryer, the suspect’s wife, provided police with the same account, Robertson said, adding that neither the defendant nor the pickup were home when police visited three days after the crash.

She refused to testify Wednesday through a phone call initiated by her attorney Chris Skatell and told Hammers that she was in Florida with family.

“I would like to invoke the spousal privilege,” she said on speakerphone after Pacek asked her a question.

Robertson testified that Bobby Paul Bryer contacted troopers on Jan. 25, the same day they visited his house, and again claimed to have hit a garbage can.

“He wanted to rant, I guess you could say,” Robertson said. “You could tell he was nervous and scared.”

He surrendered Jan. 28 and is free on $50,000 bail. Bathurst remains hospitalized for treatment of serious injuries. Union Mission held a fundraiser for her last month.

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