Crime & Safety

Accident Scene on Becks Run Has Cleared, County Police Reporting That Driver Has Been Released from Hospital

Duquesne Light's repairs have been completed. All lanes of traffic are open.

UPDATE at 2:35 p.m. on Monday, March 21: Kierra Richardson has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after failing a blood test.

UPDATE at 8:10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15: Duquesne Light's repairs are complete. The scene of the accident is clear, and all lanes of traffic are open.

UPDATE at 3:26 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15: The Baldwin Borough Police Department is reporting that Kierra Richardson, 25, of Brentwood Borough, is the driver of the overturned vehicle.

Find out what's happening in Baldwin-Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A female driver who crashed into two utility poles – severing one completely – on Becks Run Road in  near the intersection of Parkwood Road/Bajo Street early Tuesday morning, March 15, is believed to have been treated and released from UPMC Mercy Hospital, according to Allegheny County Police Department Sgt. Andy Sherman.

"I understand that she was treated and released ..." Sherman said. "Bumps and bruises."

Find out what's happening in Baldwin-Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The accident occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. The driver was taken to UPMC Mercy by .

"We transported her as a serious patient based on the mechanism of injury," Baldwin EMS Chief William E. Plunkett said. "... She was ejected from the vehicle. We found her outside of the vehicle."

Plunkett said that he is not certain if the driver was wearing a seat belt.

"I do not know," he said. "My guess is that, given that she was ejected, she was not. That's just me surmising. People that are seat-belted don't get ejected, so I think it's pretty safe to say she was not wearing a seat belt."

The vehicle suffered major damage, as it eventually settled on its roof.

Duquesne Light was on the scene later on Tuesday making repairs to electrical wires and replacing the severed pole. Work has since been completed, and the company is reporting that there have been no power outages as a result of the accident.

The  reported initially that the Allegheny County Police Department would be handling an investigation of the accident.

Sherman said that the investigation has since been turned back over to Baldwin Borough Police after county police learned that the accident was not fatal or near-fatal.

Sherman said that Baldwin Borough Police are suspecting that the driver was intoxicated and that results of a blood test are pending.


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