A motorist accused of running a red light and causing a two-vehicle crash along Route 22 in Derry Township, killing a 62-year-old man,is charged with homicide by vehicle and multiple traffic violations.
Martin J. McKnight, 44, of Saltsburg is charged in connection with the Sept. 15, 2020, crash on Route 22 at its intersection with Route 981 at 11:25 p.m.
McKnight was driving his 2020 Dodge Ram pickup truck southbound on Route 981, failed to stop at a red light and struck the driver’s side door of a Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck driven by Alan Lee Goldizen, 62, of Blairsville, which was headed east along Route 22, state police at Kiski allege.
After the collision, McKnight abandoned his pickup and ran from the scene, Trooper Joseph Volpe alleges in court papers. Both vehicles were towed.
Paramedics took Goldizen by ambulance to Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville with serious injuries and he was later transferred to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he died Oct. 13, 2020 of complications from multiple blunt force trauma, Volpe said.
First responders searched the area for the driver of the Dodge pickup but were unsuccessful, troopers said.
The morning after the crash, McKnight telephoned the Kiski station to report “he was the operator who left the scene of the crash last night at Route 22 and 981,” Volpe said.
McKnight told police he was driving south on Route 981 toward the Sheetz and he drove through the intersection, claiming he had a green light. However, multiple witnesses who saw the crash told troopers that McKnight drove through a steady red light, according to court documents.
After the crash, McKnight said “the only thing he remembers is getting out of the truck … (and) waking up in his cousin’s garage,” Volpe wrote in court documents.
McKnight said he suffered multiple bruises, a sore neck and possible broken ribs.
“All injuries reported by McKnight were self-diagnosed, he never obtained professional medical treatment,” Volpe wrote in court documents.
Goldizen had been employed by the Elliott Co. in Jeannette before his death, according to his obituary, and he enjoyed the outdoors and traveling.
McKnight was released from the county prison Friday after posting $100,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is July 27.
McKnight could not be reached for comment. He did not have an attorney listed in court documents.
