Three Dead After Tri Axel Truck, Pickup Truck Collide On Route 21
GERMAN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- Three people, including a four-year-old, are dead after a truck and a passenger vehicle collided on Route 21.
A stretch of Route 21 in German Township was closed in both directions for more than four hours late Tuesday following a horrific crash between a Ford pickup and a tri-axle truck.
The fatal crash occurred around 3:55 p.m. near the Double T-Bar and Grill on McClellandtown Road, according to emergency dispatchers in Fayette County.
Trooper Robert Broadwater, a PIO at the State Police Station in Uniontown, told KDKA News: "We had three fatalities. One adult male, one adult female, and a 4-year-old child."
"All three fatalities were in the pickup truck. There was one driver in the commercial vehicle, it's believed he's doing well right now."
Broadwater identified those killed Wednesday as Kayla Nicole Burwell, 20, Ronald Burwell, 53, and Hunter Gibbs, who had just turned four on Sunday.
Investigators say the two adults were not related to the Gibbs. Kayla Burwell was the child's babysitter and Ronald Burwell was her father.
The speed limit on the highway is 45 mph. Investigators will try to determine if one or both vehicles were speeding, or if a wet road or weather conditions were factors.
"This is a heavily traveled road. A lot of traffic on this road," Broadwater said.
"This is the main way from Waynesburg to Uniontown if you don't want to take 79 through 70. There are locations where you are allowed to pass on this road, the speed is kept down for that reason. There's a lot of truck traffic on this road."
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Besides State Police investigators - including an accident reconstruction unit - the Fayette County Coroner and the Fayette County District Attorney were both on the scene, surveying the damage firsthand.
