Police Investigate Fatal Accident On Interstate 376
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One man is dead after getting hit by a car on the Parkway West Sunday morning.
State Police said it happened around 5:25 a.m. when the 45-year-old man, Gary Gregrich Jr., was hit by a car traveling outbound near the Banksville Road exit.
He died at the scene.
The driver remained at the scene with the police.
"He was not with PennDOT or anything. We don't know the reasoning for him being in the lane of travel," Trooper Melinda Bondarenka said over the phone.
The crash closed the outbound side of the Parkway West from the Ft. Pitt Tunnel to the Banksville exit. For about three hours, investigators pieced the case together. At this point, they believe the driver was not impaired and shouldn't face any charges, but a full investigation will determine that.
"Any reasonable person traveling in that area wouldn't expect or anticipate somebody to be in that lane of travel, so it was probably a surprise to that operator that somebody was there and they struck someone," Trooper Bondarenka said.
It is illegal to walk along the interstate or parkways.
"It has occurred, unfortunately, where we do have people that come up on the interstates or parkway and walk," Trooper Bondarenka recounted. "Not realizing it's very dangerous."
Troopers are not sure what happened before Gregrich was hit and killed by the car. They hope to learn what he was doing out there.
"If he was on the inbound side or whatever. We may or may not determine that," Trooper Bondarenka said.
The Parkway West and Ft. Pitt Tunnel has reopened to traffic.