Police investigating crash into Pine Creek in Shaler Township

Shaler police have identified the man rescued after the car he was driving went off the road and ended up in Pine Creek.

Paul Skerl, 76, was driving on Elfinwild Road in Shaler on Thursday afternoon when his vehicle left the roadway, fell down a steep hill and landed upside down in Pine Creek near Route 8, Shaler police said. Skerl was taken to Allegheny General Hospital and discharged later in the evening.

The car was found on its roof in Pine Creek, with only the undercarriage visible above water. Rescuers successfully pulled him from the vehicle.

The crash occurred in the midst of severe rains and high winds, which caused flooding, mudslides and road closures throughout the region. Deputy Chief Sean Frank doesn’t think the weather played a role in the crash, though. Frank said that the angle of the car’s fall — the fact that it didn’t knock down any of the nearby mailboxes — suggested it did not slide on the slippery roads.

With no known witnesses to the crash, however, the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.