Mother of crash victim arrested on warrant
The mother of the 6-year-old boy killed last week in a crash on Interstate 70 in Buffalo Township was arrested Sunday afternoon by state police on an outstanding warrant on charges of theft and receiving stolen property.
Crystal Lashea Rush, 23, of West Finley, was charged November 5 by state police for allegedly stealing a Troy Bilt generator owned by Douglas St. Clair from her former home at 890 W. Finley Road, West Finley, last July.
Rush allegedly sold the generator at a pawn shop on North Main Street in Washington for $100. St. Clair told police he bought back the generator for $100 and gave the trooper a copy of the receipt issued when she sold it.
District Judge Ethan Ward declared Rush a fugitive after she failed so show up for a preliminary hearing on the charges in January.
She was picked up by police following her release from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she was taken after last week’s crash.
State police Lt. Douglas Bartoe said they continue to investigate the cause of the June 4 crash that killed her 6-year-old son, Dominic Rush.
She was driving west on I-70 just east of the Taylorstown exit about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when her 1997 Jeep SUV went into the median.
The vehicle, which overturned several times, traveled 342 feet.
Both Rush and her son, who police said were not wearing seat belts, were ejected from the vehicle.
The boy was pinned under the Jeep. Several witnesses lifted the vehicle off the boy, but he died of his injuries.
Bartoe said there were no reports of Rush driving erratically in the moments before the crash.
“It was raining hard at the time, but we don’t know if that was a factor,” Bartoe said.
Trooper Todd Stephenson, an accident reconstruction specialist for Troop B, obtained a search warrant for the vehicle last week but did not note any problems or seize any part of the vehicle.
Bartoe said police will get a search warrant for blood drawn from Rush at the hospital to determine if drugs or alcohol were a factor.
Rush was arraigned on the theft and receiving stolen property charges before Ward. She was released on $25,000 unsecured bond. A preliminary hearing is set for June 24 before Ward.