New Details In Fatal Parkway West Accident
MOON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- There new details in a freak accident on the Parkway West that killed a local college student.
Katie Puwalowski, 19, died after a tire flew off an SUV near the Carnegie exit and struck her windshield Monday night.
"The tire never struck the hood of the vehicle," State Trooper Robin Mungo said. "It hit the windshield and then also hit the roof of the vehicle and it peeled the roof of the vehicle back."
Puwalowski had just picked up her boyfriend from the airport and they were on their way home when the accident happened.
State police in Moon Township are focusing on the driver of the Jeep Cherokee and the owner of the vehicle.
Sources tell KDKA's Marty Griffin that investigators were only able to find one lug nut from the wheel at the scene.
Sources indicate investigators will look at the possibility the other lug nuts fell off from vibration and the possibility the wheel was improperly installed.
Sources indicate the owner of the Jeep told troopers he had been working on the brakes recently.
The accident scene will also be reconstructed. Once finished, investigators will meet with prosecutors.
"Have a conference with the district attorney to determine what's going to happen from that point on," Trooper Mungo said. "So we don't know if charges are going to be filed or not but it will be determined after we collect all the evidence."
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