Man charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI after 16-year-old girl killed in Connellsville hit-and-run
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) - A man is charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI after a 16-year-old girl was killed during a hit-and-run in Connellsville.
According to the criminal complaint, first responders found the girl lying in the road near Geibel Catholic High School on Sunday night. Bailey Lentz Veitch was walking home from the Dairy Queen when she was hit. She was taken to a hospital but died.
Police said surveillance from the high school shows a vehicle driving quickly down East Crawford Avenue in the oncoming lane and on the shoulder of the road where the girl was hit. The driver didn't stop or come back to help.
Investigators found a pickup truck at the Circle K convenience store on West Crawford Avenue in Dunbar Township with damage police said matched the crash and ice cream splattered on it.
Police arrested Mark Lucic, who they said showed multiple signs of impairment. Officers said he refused to get his blood tested.
Lucic told police he was from Canada and on a company ski trip to Seven Springs Resort but he couldn't go back to the country because he was under the influence of alcohol. He told police he was following his GPS when it led him through multiple small towns and kept turning him in the wrong direction.
He said he remembered getting a flat tire and pulling into the Circle K gas station but didn't remember anything before that.
Lucic is facing multiple other charges, including aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and reckless driving.
State police were back at the scene on Tuesday reconstructing the hit-and-run while family and friends paid their respects by placing flowers, stuffed animals and candles at the scene.
"She was very popular," said her friend Kayden Lindsay. "Everybody loved her, she loved everyone. The school loved her."
"I'm going to is everything about her," Jayden Livsay said. "There's not one thing I won't miss. Bailey was an awesome person."