By Wednesday afternoon, a makeshift memorial of flowers and balloons began to appear at the scene of a horrific accident in which a Ford City High School junior was killed earlier that morning. Some classmates of Shawna Lynn Petrosky, 16, of 209 Montgomery Flats Road, Manor, were teary-eyed when they left the scene where a 41,000-pound metal coil had dislodged from the tractor-trailer hauling it and fell on the car Petrosky was driving. She and her brother Eric “Bubba” Petrosky and cousin Greg Heeter, both eighth-graders, were on their way to school. The boys were seriously injured in the accident. A junior classmate and member of the cheerleading squad with Petrosky said she was outgoing, nice and “always fun to be around.” The junior declined to give her name. She and another member of the squad added pink flowers and balloons to the memorial. “If it was one of us, she’d be doing the same thing,” she said. According to police, Shawna Petrosky was traveling on Pleasantview Drive in Manor at 7:20 a.m. with her brother and cousin in the car. She failed to stop at a flashing red light at the intersection of state Route 66, known locally as Main Street, police said. A truck being driven north on Route 66 by Samuel Libengood, 44, of Saltsburg, crashed into Petrosky’s vehicle as she entered the intersection, police said. The impact caused the metal coil to break loose from the truck’s trailer, roll over the cab and onto Petrosky’s vehicle. The momentum of the coil caused the car to flip over, police said. The scene Wednesday morning was hectic as rescuers tried to free the passengers and drivers of both vehicles. Armstrong School District Superintendent William Kerr said principals and counselors, who were reporting to the administration building (which is at the intersection where the accident happened) for a training session yesterday were able to help adult family members and go to the high school to inform and counsel students. “Everyone did what they could to comfort the family under a difficult situation,” Kerr said. Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower said Shawna Petrosky’s death was due to multiple blunt-force trauma. The injuries she sustained from the coil falling on the car likely caused her death, he said. The tractor-trailer driver was injured, police said. A dispatcher at Clay Transport Inc. of Saltsburg confirmed that Libengood is a driver for the company and said he is expected to be OK. The Petroskys are the children of a state police trooper, Eric Petrosky, who is assigned to the Pennsylvania Turnpike patrol. Lt. Tom Dubovi, commander at the East Franklin station, said, ” It’s sad when it happens to anyone, but it really brings it home when it happens to someone in your own department.” Counselors will be available for students at the high school and student council will decide if a memorial service will be held, said district spokesman Jon Szish. “Everyone is shocked, it’s an unbelieveable tragedy,” Szish said. “Our prayers are with the family.” Ford City High School principal Michael Cominos said trained school faculty and mental-health counselors talked to students yesterday. “Our students are still processing it,” he said. “We support anything they want to do. We’ll see in the morning.” “We take care of our family like any family would,” he said. “We have some difficult days ahead. We’ll remember Shawna.” One Ford City junior, who said she had been friends with Shawna since elementary school, placed flowers Wednesday afternoon. She was home from school yesterday and said she learned about the accident from a relative who responded to the accident as a firefighter. One woman who placed flowers in memory of the victims declined to comment but later said that “Shawna was an angel.” Skidmarks were visible on Route 66 North where Libengood’s truck entered the intersection. The road was reopened mid-afternoon yesterday. Ford City, Ford Cliff, West Kittanning and Manor and Kittanning townships fire departments assisted at the scene.

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