PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a deadly crash and fire that led to massive delays on the outbound Parkway East during the Monday morning rush hour.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 video captured emergency responders on the scene of the fiery crash on the ramp to I-376 in the area of mile marker 73 in Oakland.
According to State Police, a car became disabled on the road early Monday morning. The driver, later identified as 40-year-old Keturah Griffin of Monroeville, had her four-way flasher on and remained inside the vehicle.
State Police said Griffin was on the phone with dispatchers to get a tow truck sent out to her, and at that point, troopers were already on their way to direct traffic around her, when the crash happened. Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said dispatchers on the line heard the crash through the phone.
Gagliardi said that based on witnesses and the crash investigation, it appears the pickup truck involved was traveling east and hit the sedan as it was changing lanes and moving into the lane nearest Griffin’s car from behind another car. The crash caused the car to catch fire.
“Traffic was a complete standstill. You weren’t getting around. So those first couple cars that were in the mix that viewed that crash, they pretty much all got out and tried to help as best way possible. Unfortunately, flames were just too strong, too big, and they couldn’t get into that car successfully enough to get her out of there,” Gagliardi said.
He said, specifically, the driver of the pickup truck got out and immediately tried to pull Griffin from the burning car, along with two Pittsburgh detectives who were driving on I-376 at the time also stopped.
“We’re going to do our part to check everything out that we can. But for now, no one was put under arrest. Everyone did the right thing on scene. So we’re going to continue our measurements, our speed, and everything like that accordingly in this next couple of weeks,” Gagliardi said.
The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries and was treated on scene. Gagliardi said while the investigation is ongoing, it appears a lack of visibility was a factor in this crash.
“From early investigations with some key witnesses on scene, it did seem just like a complete transition from one lane to another with that lack of visibility with that sedan. However, our reconstruction team was out there. The investigation is still early,” Gagliardi said.
He said if an element of speed is determined to have been a factor, a citation could be filed in the future.
I-376 was closed eastbound after the crash and has since reopened. An investigation into the crash is ongoing.