Driver charged with homicide in fatal Georges Township crash
State police have charged a driver with third-degree murder for allegedly causing a crash that killed a passenger in another car in Georges Township earlier this year.
Jonathan Michael Moccaldi, 31, of Georges Township, was charged Wednesday with numerous felony counts in connection with the March 3 crash at a four-way intersection in which 24-year-old Tyler Keith Shaffer was ejected from the other vehicle and died at the scene.
Police said Moccaldi was speeding while traveling south on Morgantown Road and passed a car in a no-passing zone before striking another vehicle trying to turn out from Tent Church Road. Shaffer was thrown from the passenger seat of the other vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene by the Fayette County coroner, police said.
Charles Ray Shaffer III, who was the driver of the other car and brother of the victim, told investigators he was stopped at the intersection and looked in both directions and did not see any cars coming when he pulled out onto Morgantown Road and was struck by Moccaldi’s vehicle. He suffered serious injuries in the crash, along with the passenger in Moccaldi’s vehicle, Emily Jean Brown, who is the suspect’s girlfriend.
Moccaldi was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., for treatment of his injuries. While there, state police troopers interviewed him about the crash in which he claimed he and Brown had driven to a local gas station for fuel, and denied drinking any alcohol beforehand, according to court documents. However, investigators said they smelled a “strong odor” of alcohol on him at the hospital and he had a blood-alcohol level of .146% that was nearly double the legal limit to drive a vehicle, court documents allege.
Police charged Moccaldi with felony counts of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle and two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI. He also is facing misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and driving under the influence, along with numerous summary offenses.
An arrest warrant for Moccaldi was filed Wednesday at District Judge Daniel Shimshock’s office, and he had not been arraigned as of Thursday afternoon.