Driver crashes into creek in Plum

A vehicle went off the road along Old Leechburg Road, over an embankment and into a creek on Wednesday afternoon in Plum Borough. 

Multiple units of first responders arrived near the road's intersection with New Texas Road around 4:30 p.m. and had to use extraction equipment to remove the driver from the car. The driver, an unidentified male, was alone in the silver sedan.

Antonio Marapese lives along the road where the accident happened and said he was outside his house when he saw the driver coming down the road and didn't slow down when he approached a curve near the bottom of the hill.

"This is a very tight bend with a one-lane bridge, so I noticed it," said Marapese. "It kinda stuck out, and I noticed he didn't hit his brakes and just went down right into the creek." 

Marapese said he sprang into action as soon as he saw the car go over the hillside.

"I tried to get down here as fast as I could," he said. "Luckily, there were several cars behind him, which they were already out of their cars by the time I got here."

The local fire department is also within a mile of the crash, so response times were brief.

"Their response time was immaculate," said Marapese. "They were here within probably 30 seconds."

Besides answering questions from investigators and helping to navigate traffic around the neighborhood, Marapese also took photos and videos and posted them in a local community group on Facebook.

"I posted them in the group, just in case there was someone that might have known him," he said. "I think it did work. His son ended up pulling in."

Marapese said one driver pulled in, asking questions about the car and who was driving, and turned out to be the driver's son.

"He walked down," said Marapese. "It was his father. He knew that he was alert, and he was OK."

Marapese said he went from panic to relief to being completely in awe because the driver was stable by the time he was taken to a nearby hospital.

"A miracle, a blessing," he said.