Canadian sentenced to prison for fatally striking teen with truck in Fayette County
A Canadian who was drunk when he fatally struck a teenage girl with his pickup truck in Connellsville Township as she was walking home with ice cream for her family last year was sentenced to prison Friday morning.
Fayette County President Judge Steve Leskinen sentenced Mark Lucic, 44, to serve six to 20 years in prison after the defendant pleaded no contest on Aug. 28 to one felony charge of homicide by vehicle while DUI and guilty to one count of accident involving death.
Lucic struck and killed 16-year-old Bailey Lentz on Feb. 5, 2023, when he drove off the road near Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School and hit the teen as she walked home along East Crawford Avenue with dessert from Dairy Queen. Lucic continued driving before pulling over at a gas station in Dunbar Township nearly three miles away, where he fell asleep inside his pickup truck until state police located him about two hours later.
“He had significant damage on his vehicle (and) ice cream on the windshield,” Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said Friday after the sentencing. “He took the easy way out and said he was too drunk to remember the crash. This defendant made nothing but excuses to avoid (admitting) what he did, which is that he left a child dead on the side of the road and did nothing to help her.”
Investigators said Lentz initially had a pulse following the crash, but she was taken to Highlands Hospital in Connellsville, where she died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck, body and extremities.
“She’s 16 years old, very loved by her family,” Aubele said of the victim impact statements made during the sentencing. “She was everything to them. … It’s just sad. She meant the world to a lot of people.”
Lucic, who lives in Ontario, was visiting the area while on a work trip to Seven Springs, but told investigators that he got lost after leaving the resort. Tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .259% – more than three times the legal limit to drive a vehicle – about four hours after the crash. Inside his truck, state police troopers found a vodka bottle and a 30-pack of light beer, although there were no open containers in the vehicle.
Lucic has been held without bond at the Fayette County jail since his arrest a day after the crash. His defense attorney, Ryan James, could not be reached for comment Friday.