2 Killed After Speeding Car Crashes, Flips Multiple Times
SMITH TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – Two men were killed and two others injured after crashing and flipping their car multiple times early Saturday morning in Washington County.
It happened around 1:45 a.m. when the four men were traveling along Joffre Bulger Road in Smith Township.
Police say the men were traveling at an extremely high rate of speed, lost control on a bend and went off the side of the road. The car then went onto some gravel and when the driver tried to correct the car, it flipped as many as six times.
"Tried bringing the car back onto the road, and they overcorrected, I'm assuming, the car went sideways and as it went sideways it started to barrel roll," said Chief Brandon Kriznik, of the Smith Township Fire Department.
Paul Kinder, a neighbor, said he ran to the crash scene from his home seconds after hearing one loud crash after another as the car rolled over.
"After he slid around the turn, lost control, the car caught traction and you could hear the car roll down the road," said Kinder.
Joe Bowland and Michael Gregg, both 19, died from their injuries.
Kinder was friends with Gregg and tried to help both victims.
"They were both laying there; they were breathing," said Kinder. "The one kid was choking on his blood. I had to turn him over to the side a little bit where he didn't choke to death on his blood, and then the other kid was lying flat on his back."
At least three of the four people in the vehicle were ejected.
When the car finally stopped, it was facing the opposite direction near a culvert.
Jordan Jacobsen, the driver, and Ben Bowman, another passenger, were taken to Pittsburgh hospitals and are expected to survive.
Friends of the victims showed up at the crash scene. It's not the first fatal accident on this stretch of Joffre Bulger Road.
"We had a fatal accident last year in which three people were deceased, and it's a winding road," said Chief Kriznik. "Just like any other country road, you got to watch your speed."
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