Man, Girl Both in Comas After Brownsville-Route 51 Crash

A male driver and a 17-year-old female pedestrian were both taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital in serious condition after they were injured in a traffic collision at the Route 51-Brownsville Road intersection in Brentwood Borough on Saturday.

Brentwood police Chief Robert Butelli said on Tuesday that the last update that he received on the driver and pedestrian's conditions was that both are in comas.

The crash happened at around 8:20 a.m., Chief Butelli said, when Laurence McGaffin, of Stilley Road in , struck the 17-year-old jogger from Prospect Road in Whitehall as she was standing on or near a street island close to the intersection's PNC Bank.

Butelli said that it is not known whether the girl was actually on the island when she was hit, as no witnesses have come forward with additional information. And neither the driver nor the girl are able to talk about the crash.

Brentwood police are working with the Allegheny County Police Department to reconstruct the traffic scene. Their goal is to learn more about the incident and how McGaffin's vehicle came into contact with the girl before careening across Route 51 and into a utility pole and guardrail along the southbound lane near the Greater Beneficial Union building.

Butelli said that some of McGaffin's injuries may have happened before the actual crash—perhaps a stroke or something similar while he was driving. Butelli estimated McGaffin's age as mid-to-late 50s.

The girl was injured during the crash.

Crews from Brentwood Emergency Medical Service transported both of them to Mercy Hospital.

UPDATE: On Friday, June 22, a spokesperson from Mercy called McGaffin's condition "critical." No update on the girl's condition is available, as she is a minor.

 ---

Follow the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Facebook and Twitter.

Sign up for the daily Baldwin-Whitehall newsletter.