Ohio trucker charged in I-70 crash that killed West Penn Power lineman
Share this post:
An Ohio truck driver was driving 62 mph Oct. 21 when he slammed into stopped traffic along Interstate 70 in South Huntingdon, killing a popular West Penn Power worker from New Stanton and seriously injuring two people, state police reported in court documents.
Charles C. Walker, 58, of Columbus, Ohio, was charged Tuesday with homicide by vehicle, two counts each of aggravated assault by vehicle and careless driving causing unintentional death and serious bodily injury and five counts each of recklessly endangering another person, according to a state police arrest warrant.
Trooper Charles Hassenfeldt, a crash reconstruction specialist, also charged Walker with traffic violations, including following another vehicle too closely, driving at an unsafe speed and reckless driving.
The crash killed 27-year-old Dillon W. Walton of New Stanton, a West Penn Power linesman whose 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier was stopped in the eastbound lanes with other vehicles as emergency workers cleared the scene of a previous crash along the stretch just before 5:30 p.m. Walton was returning home after attending a funeral viewing of a co-worker in Jefferson, Allegheny County, according to co-workers and friends.
A New York couple, Matthew and Melissa Krackowieki, suffered injuries in the crash, including fractured spines that required surgery, according to police reports.
Hassenfeldt reported that, moments before the collision, Matthew Krackowieki caught a glimpse of Walker’s 2016 International Harvester rig approaching the stopped traffic from behind but not slowing.
“Just prior to impact, (Krackowieki) began to take evasive action to avoid being struck,” according to court documents.
The Krackowiekis’ vehicle was knocked onto its side, and Walker’s vehicle continued east and slammed into the rear of Walton’s car, forcing it into the rear of a tractor trailer, according to police reports. Walton was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Had (Krackowieki) not taken evasive action, he and his passenger may have experienced more serious injury or even death,” Hassenfeldt wrote in court documents.
Hassenfeldt determined the speed of Walker’s vehicle just before to the crash after he subpoenaed event data records from all four vehicles involved in the wreck, plus evidence collected at the scene.
According to Hassenfeldt, the engine control module obtained from Walker’s rig “shows the speed was no higher than 64 miles per hour for the 59 seconds before the event.”
“At event time zero, the speed recorded for (Walker’s) vehicle was 62 miles per hour,” Hassenfeldt wrote.
The speed limit in that section of the highway is 55 mph.
Hassenfeldt wrote in court documents seeking an arrest warrant from Rostraver District Judge Charles Christner that Walker’s “gross negligence” by failing to slow down as he approached traffic stopped in the roadway was the cause of the fatal crash.
During Walton’s Oct. 29 funeral service, hundreds of family members and friends celebrated his life, and dozens of West Penn Power utility trucks and area ambulances lined up along Main Street outside the funeral home in his memory.