Driver fleeing traffic stop crashes into car, killing 1
PITTSBURGH – A driver with two armed passengers in his car fled a construction zone traffic stop early Wednesday, was chased by state police troopers and crashed head-on into another vehicle while trying to exit an interstate, killing himself and injuring four other people, authorities said.
The driver, 20-year-old Richard Giles Jr., of Pittsburgh, sped away as an approaching trooper smelled marijuana coming from his vehicle at about 2:30 a.m., state police spokesman Trooper Matthew Jardine said. State police were involved because troopers patrol the roadway, Interstate 376, known locally as the Parkway East, even within the city limits.
The car Giles was driving smashed into another car because he was unable to complete a left turn off an exit ramp, Jardine said. Three passengers in the vehicle Giles was driving were injured. The fourth person injured was the lone occupant of the other car, Jardine said.
Two of the passengers in Giles’ car were armed, and a third was wanted on an unspecified arrest warrant, Jardine said. Whether they’ll face any charges hadn’t been determined.
Police wouldn’t specify which passengers had weapons and which was wanted by authorities. The passengers were a 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman from Washington, Pennsylvania, and an 18-year-old man from Forest Park, Georgia.
The results of an autopsy on Giles were pending. Attempts to reach Giles’ family for comment were unsuccessful.