Lower Burrell police identify victim of fatal Route 56 crash

Lower Burrell police identified the man killed in a head-on crash Sunday on the Route 56 Bypass as Scott Smith, 33, of Rochester, Beaver County.

Three other people injured in the crash have not been identified.

The crash happened around 12:15 p.m. near the intersection of the Route 56 Bypass and Leechburg Road, near Rite Aid.

Lower Burrell Detective Sgt. Jason Napier told the Tribune-Review on Sunday that a man driving a Mitsubishi station wagon was traveling toward New Kensington on Route 56 when he crossed over the center line and slammed into a Nissan SUV traveling toward Allegheny Township.

A third car traveling behind the Nissan was also involved in the crash, but the occupants of that car were not injured, Napier said.

Smith, who was a passenger in the Nissan, was flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison, where he was pronounced dead. The man driving the Mitsubishi, the woman driving the Nissan and another male passenger in the Nissan all were taken to area hospitals with injuries.

A state police accident reconstruction team was called to the scene to investigate. Chief Tim Weitzel on Monday said the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Napier on Sunday said drugs and alcohol don’t initially appear to have been involved. It’s unclear if speed or a medical emergency were factors.

The Route 56 Bypass is a heavily traveled road and has been the site of multiple crashes in recent years, Napier said. He said the police department regularly targets the road for speeding.

He said Sunday there wasn’t anything in the particular area of the crash that he could point to as a contributing factor, such as a blind spot.

Madasyn Czebiniak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Madasyn at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com, or via Twitter @maddyczebstrib.