Apr 12, 2016 2 min read

A Belle Vernon man was charged Monday with homicide by vehicle in connection with a Jan. 3, 2015, crash in Somerset Township that killed a Monongahela woman.

Trevor Belford, 35, of 612 Edwards Ave. is accused of driving his pickup truck through a stop sign on Brownlee Road, hitting a car going east on Route 136. A passenger in the compact car, Donna B. Simboli, 58, of Monongahela, was pronounced dead of multiple injuries about 90 minutes after the crash in an ambulance that transported her to a helicopter landing zone. The driver of the car, Christopher Weber, 46, of Charleroi, was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital.

Belford told state troopers Chad Weaver and Daniel Boyd he stopped about 10 feet before the intersection before proceeding through it.

Trooper Todd Stephenson of the state police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit inspected the vehicle and found no mechanical defects. Data taken from the truck’s airbag control module indicated the truck was going 25 mph, slowed to about 19 mph and was going 23 mph before braking at or near impact. Based on that information, police said Belford did not stop 10 feet before the stop sign.

Belford was arraigned Monday afternoon before District Judge Curtis Thompson on the homicide by vehicle charges as well as charges of involuntary manslaughter, failure to stop at a stop sign and other traffic violations. He was released on $20,000 unsecured bond. He faces a May 17 preliminary hearing before Thompson.