A Sewickley Township man will serve up to six years in prison for leaving the scene of a fatal vehicle crash three years ago that killed his front seat passenger.

Westmoreland County jurors in July found Matthew Poston, 31, not guilty of vehicular homicide, drunk driving and other charges in connection with the Feb. 22, 2015, crash on Lowber Road in which 33-year-old Gary “Tiger” Moore Jr. died as a result head injuries. He was convicted of one count of fleeing the crash scene.

“What I found most remarkable here was not the accident … it was what happened after the accident that establishes the crime here,” said Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani.

Prosecutors said Poston agreed to drive home a drunken Moore from the Lowber Fireman’s Club when he sped along the icy roadway and lost control of his pickup truck, which veered off the road and slammed into a utility pole. Instead of staying at the crash scene, Poston walked on foot back to the club, directed a bartender to call 911 then avoided police for the next 24 hours.

Family members said Moore, a supervisor with the Rostraver/West Newton Emergency Service ambulance company, was a popular member of the community who is survived by his parents, a sister and a 5-year-old son.

“He is missed by so many. Losing a child is the worst thing that has happened to me,” said his mother Jenny Moore.

Poston, who did not testify at his trial, briefly addressed the Moore family during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

“You don’t know how sorry I am. I’m sorry, that’s it,” Poston said.

Defense attorney Caroline Roberto asked for leniency and for the judge to ignore a mandatory minimum sentence of three-to-six years in prison for the fleeing conviction.

“He tried to help Mr. Moore. The roads were icy. This was a terrible accident,” Roberto said.

She said Poston, a military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, should be allowed to serve some of the sentence in a state boot camp facility.

The judge imposed the mandatory prison sentence but agreed to recommend Poston for the six-month boot camp program. As a result, Poston could be eligible for parole in about 18 months after serving a portion of his prison sentence and completing the boot camp.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---