One person killed in Nottingham crash involving motorcycle caravan
Scott Beveridge/Observer-ReporterOne person is dead following a crash Sunday morning on Route 136 in Nottingham Township.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter State police reconstruct a crash that injured five people and killed a woman riding on a motorcycle along Route 136 Sunday morning in Nottingham Township.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter The car that state police said drove into a caravan of motorcycles came to rest into an embankment on Route 136 Sunday in Nottingham Township.
EIGHTY FOUR – A 73-year-old Monongahela man drove his car into a caravan of motorcycles Sunday morning, killing a Washington woman and injuring five people, including himself, along Route 136 Sunday morning in Nottingham Township, state police said.
Darla Cook, 51, was pronounced dead at the scene of the first crash at 10:34 a.m., the Washington County coroner’s office said. The cause and manner of her death were pending Sunday night, the coroner’s office said.
She was a passenger on a motorcycle that was struck about 9:30 a.m. by a car driven by Arthur Peter Ginglardi between Preston and Lusk roads, state police said.
A 58-year-old Washington man who was operating the first motorcycle and a 62-year-old man from Pittsburgh driving the second one involved in the crashes were flown by helicopters for treatment at Pittsburgh hospitals, police said.
A 56-year-old Amity man and a woman, 61, of Washington who were on a third motorcycle involved in the crashes were taken by ambulance to an area hospital for treatment, police said.
Police said Ginglardi’s car crossed the center line while traveling west along a sharp bend in Route 136 and it continued for about 60 feet until it crashed into an embankment. The crashes scattered motorcycle parts across both lanes of Route 136, which was closed to traffic for about 5 hours until the scene was cleared.
A man on a motorcycle that just missed being struck by the car said Ginglardi told him he was traveling too fast on a road that he was unfamiliar with.
“It was awful,” said the man, who declined to identify himself to a reporter.
He said about 20 motorcycles were traveling east on the run as members of the Washington Pa. Hog Chapter 1928. He said Cook was secretary of the club.
“She was always smiling. She was a happy person,” he said.
The group was en route to Ligonier at the time.
One of the riders was thrown onto a hillside upon impact, the witness said.
He said the operator of the bike whose passenger was killed was “a seasoned rider.”
“There was nothing he could do,” he said.