Texas trucker jailed in Mon Valley crash, fire
BELLE VERNON – A Texas trucker is in custody facing charges he fled from an accident that set fire to a house Tuesday in North Belle Vernon.
State police apprehended Nathaniel William Smyth, 27, of San Angelo, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County after North Belle Vernon police issued an alert for the truck he was driving following the 4:30 p.m. crash in the borough, court records show.
Smyth is accused of striking a utility pole with the tractor-trailer he was driving at Arch and Hill streets, and leaving tire tracks in the yard outside of 203 Arch St., police stated in the affidavit.
The crash caused wires to come down on the roof of 203 Arch, setting fire to the attic. The resident, John Kerekes, told police he was in a bedroom when he noticed the fire and made it safely out of his house, court records state.
Video surveillance in the area identified the truck hauling a refrigerated trailer as belonging to Trans Am Trucking of Olathe, Kan. Westmoreland County 911 contacted the trucking company, which notified Smyth to pull over and wait for state police to arrive, the record states.
Smyth told police he got lost in a residential area and didn’t think his vehicle had collided with anything. State police said there was damaged noticed on the vehicle that indicated it had made contact with a utility pole.
Smyth is charged with causing a catastrophe, reckless endangerment and causing an accident involving attended property.
He is in Westmoreland County jail on $100,000 bond set Wednesday by District Judge Jason Buczak.