Crash victims had just left party
A male graduate and two girls who were seniors at Elizabeth Forward High School were at a party minutes before they died in a car crash in late September, according to testimony Thursday in a coroner's inquest.
Testimony indicates that underage Elizabeth Forward graduates brought beer to the house and drank it there.
The owner of the house, Josh Boyer, 21, said Brian Ash, 20, who was driving the 1995 Honda that crashed into a pick-up truck on Broadlawn Drive, had also smoked marijuana late in the evening of Sept. 20.
The crash occurred on a curve in the 400 block of Broadlawn Drive at about 3:45 a.m. Sept. 21.
Candace Geiser, 17, of Patterson Street in Elizabeth and Bethann Zagurasky, 17, of Greenboro Drive in Forward Township, passengers in Ash's car, also died in the crash.
Geiser was the school's head cheerleader and Zagurasky had been a member of the previous spring's prom court.
Ash was a former captain of the school's wrestling team.
Rob Pirdick, 30, of Elizabeth Township, the driver of the pick-up truck that Ash's car struck after crossing the center line of the road, suffered serious leg injuries but has been released from the hospital and is re-covering.
Ash had a blood alcohol content of .18 when he died and his urine indicated evidence of marijuana use, accord-ing to the testimony of Dr. John DelMastro, a forensic pathologist in the coroner's office.
Boyer, a 1999 graduate of Elizabeth Forward, said he left his house at around 11:30 the night of the party and didn't return until after Ash and the girls had driven away from the party. Boyer said before he left, he grew angry and asked younger people who had shown up at the house to leave.
"I didn't want underage people at my house drinking," Boyer said.
Three minors, including Jeff James, 18, the brother of Boyer's girlfriend Kristy James, 21, then left.
But others, including Geiser and Zagurasky, came to the house later and stayed.
DelMastro said Geiser had a blood alcohol level of .08 the night she was killed. DelMastro said there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs in Zagurasky's system.
Boyer said that when he left the house to go to a bar in McKeesport, he saw Ash smoking marijuana on his side porch.
He testified that he did not observe Ash drinking, but Boyer said he had left almost two six-packs of beer in a refrigerator in the house.
Geiser and Zagurasky were friends of Seth Boyer, 18, Josh's younger brother who sometimes stays in a room at his brother's home on 10 acres of property on Greenock-Buena Vista Road.
A friend of the Boyers testified that even though alcohol was consumed at the house that night, it was not a regular occurrence there.
"It may seem like it, but it's not a party house," said Pat Cray, a 2002 graduate of Elizabeth Forward who was at the house that night.
Elizabeth Township police Chief David Graham said at the police department yesterday afternoon that there were no complaints from neighbors prior to the crash. Boyer's house, he said, is set off by itself and is accessible only by a steep gravel road.
Graham added that if people knew about underage drinking taking place at the Boyer house, "nobody ever bothered to tell us about it."
Cray said he saw Ash drink beer at the house, but said Ash did not appear drunk.
Two other friends of the Boyers said they brought beer to the house that evening.
Jeff Zanetti, 20, a 2001 Elizabeth Forward graduate, said he brought a partially full 30-pack of beer to the party.
Noah Masisko, 19, who graduated in the same year as Zanetti, said he brought a case of beer to the house that he had purchased from an unidentified man in West Mifflin.
Masisko told Assistant District Attorney Ed Borkowski that he drank 16 beers that evening, but arrived home safely.
Special Hearing Officer Robert DelGreco said he now would study the testimony before conferring with Allegheny Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht and issuing a finding, which could include a recommendation for a filing of charges.
