A Sewickley Township woman has been identified as the person who was killed Friday night in a two-vehicle crash along Route 136 in Hempfield.
The woman, Joann Wardzek, 58, of Wolfe Lane, was pronounced dead at the scene along Route 136 between Edna Road and Lower Lane at 8 p.m. Friday by Deputy Coroner John Ackerman, the Westmoreland County Coroner’s office said. The cause and manner of death are pending the results of an autopsy, the coroner said.
The coroner’s office said Wardzek was not wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred. The air bags in the vehicle deployed, the coroner said.
Neither state police nor the coroner identified the driver of the vehicle in which Wardzek was traveling. That driver was trapped inside the car and had to be freed from the wreckage. The driver was flown to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, for treatment of spinal and brain injuries.
Wardzek was a passenger in an eastbound vehicle traveling near the Hempfield Area School District bus garage when the driver of a westbound vehicle crossed the center line. The man driving the eastbound vehicle swerved to the left to avoid a crash, but as both attempted to get back in their respective lanes, the westbound vehicle hit the eastbound vehicle on the driver’s side.
The man driving the westbound vehicle was transported to Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg for treatment of chest pains.
The Adamsburg fire department assisted at the scene.
