State police continue to investigate hit-and-run accident in Derry Township that injured woman

State police are following up on tips from the public as a Latrobe woman remains hospitalized after being hit by a pickup over the weekend outside her workplace. The driver fled the scene.

Mary Bathurst, 42, a facility attendant at Union Mission, was taking out the trash before 6 p.m. Saturday when she was hit by a red pickup, possibly an older Dodge Ram 1500, police said. She was seriously injured but is expected to survive.

Dan Carney, director of the men’s shelter on Harrison Avenue in Derry Township, said two residents were helping Bathurst and immediately notified staff and police. Bathurst has been working there for about a year.

“She energizes the team. She really is an inspiration to the clients that we serve here,” Carney said.

Police were investigating leads Monday, Trooper Steve Limani said.

They were looking for the driver, who stopped briefly after hitting Bathurst and spoke to a witness before getting back into the truck and taking off, Limani said. Bathurst was walking along the berm between the Union Mission building and a nearby trash receptacle in a residential area just outside of Latrobe. The truck might have small rear doors. It would have damage to the right front side from the collision.

“It catapulted her approximately 40 or so feet where she struck a wooden fence,” Limani said.

Authorities are looking for help from the community or any auto body shops that may have information. Police encouraged residents and businesses in the area with surveillance cameras to review their footage from around that time. Limani said drivers involved in a crash must stop and render aid, if possible, and provide their information.

“This person failed to do that,” he said.

As Carney and his staff members and clients at Union Mission keep close tabs on Bathurst’s condition, which is stable, they hope an arrest is made soon.

“We recognize that accidents happen, we understand that. But we think for that person, that driver, to come forward is really the most important thing to do for his own well being but also to bring closure to the family and this incident as a whole,” he said.

Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information can call the state police Kiski Valley station at 724-697-5780. Anonymous tips can be made at 1-800-4PA-TIPS or online at p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=107.