Investigation continues into fatal crash into North Side plasma clinic
Biomat USA on Pittsburgh’s North Side remained boarded up on Monday, two days after an SUV slammed into the plasma clinic at a high rate of speed, killing two employees and one person inside the car.
Pittsburgh police provided no updates on the investigation, and it remained unclear what caused the crash or whether it was an intentional act.
The medical examiner’s office late Sunday identified the employees as Laura Elaine Meneskie, 35, and Parveena Begum Abdul, 55. The man in the car – officials would not say whether he was the driver – was identified as 50-year-old Ronald K. Morgan.
An obituary on the Szafranski-Eberlein Funeral Home website remembered Meneskie as a “caring, compassionate and very funny, loving individual.”
The Biomat USA clinic is managed by Grifols Plasma. On social media, Grifols employees used the hashtag “Grifols Strong” and posted photos of themselves and co-workers. One wrote on Facebook about how Meneskie hated to see her take an Uber home from work, and she’d given her a ride a few weeks ago.
The incident happened about 11:30 a.m., just over four hours after the clinic opened for the day.
Authorities have said the SUV had just come off the West End Bridge and onto Western when it slammed into the building, just to the left of the front entrance. The car went another 100 feet into the clinic, leaving a gaping hole and sparking a fire that rose to two alarms.
Ten employees and five donors were inside the clinic at the time of the crash.
One person was hospitalized in critical condition, and another was treated at the scene. Three first responders were treated for smoke inhalation.
“I was in the chair just getting ready,” donor Shane McDevitt said in the aftermath. “The whole building just started shaking, and I realized there was a car about 10 feet to my right.”
The fire was sparked by the force of the crash.
“I grabbed a fire extinguisher,” McDevitt said. “By the time I got that, the employees were pushing everybody out.”
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.