Hit-and-run crash sends SUV careening over hillside in Charleroi
Courtesy of Charleroi Fire Department
Emergency responders were called to the 1100 block of Lincoln Avenue in Charleroi about 11:20 p.m. Sunday and found a trail of destruction in which three parked cars were damaged from an out-of-control SUV, which ended up bumping into the rear corner of a house at 1109 McKean Ave.
Courtesy of Charleroi Fire Department
This vehicle parked in the 1100 block of Lincoln Avenue in Charleroi was struck by an out-of-control SUV in a hit-and-run crash Sunday night.
An SUV crashed into several cars Sunday night in Charleroi before careening down a hillside and striking a house in a hit-and-run incident.
Emergency responders were called to the 1100 block of Lincoln Avenue in the borough about 11:20 p.m. and found a trail of destruction in which three parked cars were damaged from the out-of-control SUV, which ended up bumping into the rear corner of a house down an embankment at 1109 McKean Ave.
The driver, who was not identified, ran from the crash scene but was arrested by borough police about a block away, Charleroi fire Chief Robert Whiten Jr. said.
Whiten said firefighters were astonished by the amount of damage the SUV caused to one of the parked vehicles, which was pushed into two other vehicles. However, the SUV itself had relatively minor damage despite crashing into multiple cars and running into a house.
“The (SUV) went over the hillside and there was hardly a scratch on the darn thing,” Whiten said. “But the car he hit, that car was totaled (and it) knocked it into another car and there was some damage on the other. I was shocked when they brought that (SUV) up over the hillside. Heck, there was hardly any damage.”
The house the SUV struck also had only minor damage, which Whiten described as a couple scratches in the brick. The vehicle narrowly missed a neighboring house at 1111 McKean Ave. No one was injured, including the driver of the SUV.
“If that car went two feet the other way, he would’ve been in either one of those houses,” Whiten said.
The SUV, which had to be pulled about 50 feet back up the hillside, and the other damaged vehicles were towed from the scene.
“It was more of a police matter because they were trying to figure out why the guy ran,” Whiten said.
Charleroi police did not respond to a phone message seeking information on the crash or what charges the driver could possibly be facing. No criminal charges had been filed as of Monday afternoon, according to online court records.