Mother and 4-year-old killed in crash that shut down part of I-70
A mother and her 4-year-old son have died after a crash that shut down part of Interstate 70 on Sunday, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
The two-vehicle crash was reported just after 1 p.m. near mile marker 6 on I-70 westbound.
An early investigation by state police showed that a Toyota Camry was traveling westbound heading towards the Pennsylvania border when the vehicle lost control.
The Camry went over the center median and landed in the eastbound lanes before an oncoming tractor-trailer collided with the Camry.
"It's a tragedy," resident Gerald Orum said. "Unbelievable. You wouldn't think anything could get up over that bank over there."
Trooper Rocco Gagliardi says the hill is 20 feet high, and the car picked up speed on the way down.
"We have to continue our part forward to make sure we put the best investigation possible to figure out the outcome and why it happened, whether that's restraints, car seats, impairment, you name it, we're going to work around the clock starting today to figure out why that occurred," Trooper Gagliardi said.
The collision caused the Camry to spin out, ejecting the mother and child from the vehicle. The tractor-trailer was pushed off the roadway and struck an occupied nearby home.
The female passenger, later identified as Aisha Trawally, in the Camry was declared deceased on the scene by medical staff; the child passenger, later identified as 4-year-old Abdul-Salami Touray, was transported to an area hospital, where they were later declared deceased by hospital staff, state police said.
Not lost on investigators is the date, Mother's Day, and the child involved.
"It's a tough one, and all fatalities are tough. But when you throw in the mixture of a toddler or someone who's a little bit younger, there's a little bit more of a heavy weight to troopers and first responders on scene."
The driver of the tractor-trailer and those inside the home that the tractor-trailer struck were evaluated and released by medical personnel.
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said in a media release that the female victim was sitting in the front seat and was one of three people in the vehicle.
The driver of the Camry, the father, was also flown to a nearby hospital. He and the female passenger were not wearing seatbelts, Coroner Warco added. Touray was not in a car seat.
"The driver of that sedan is now with us at the hospital, going through some interviews and getting treated at the hospital as we continue that part of the investigation," Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
The eastbound lanes were reopened with a one-lane restriction just before 4:30 p.m., state police said.
