Family, Friends Remember Victims Of Triple Fatal Car Crash; Vigil Planned
NORTH VERSAILLES (KDKA) – Three innocent people were killed when a man running from police rammed his car into the back of theirs in North Versailles on Thursday.
A two-year-old girl and her parents died in that crash. The man who was being chased by police is now charged with homicide.
Their future was wiped out by a high-speed driver trying to escape from police. David Bianco, his fiancée, Kaylie Meininger, and her two-year-old daughter, Annika, were killed when their car was broadsided near the intersection of routes 30 and 48.
"Just a nice family, hard-working guy, trying to take care of his family," Bob Guiliani, who owns the pizza shop where Bianco worked, said. "And this is how it ends… awful."
The driver accused of causing the crash is 22-year-old Demetrius Coleman.
An East McKeesport police officer pulled Coleman over for making an illegal left turn. During the traffic stop, Coleman realized the police were aware of an arrest warrant for probation violation from a drug case.
Coleman took off, driving more than 100 miles-per-hour down Route 30 with police in pursuit. Police say when Coleman reached Route 48, his Hyundai Elantra T-boned Bianco's car, causing it to burst into flames.
"We were eating our Thanksgiving meal when we got the phone call about it," Kaylie Meininger's cousin Brittany Puccio said.
Bianco's car hit an SUV with three women. One of them was treated for a head injury.
At the time of the accident, Bianco and Meininger were heading to an uncle's house for dinner.
"My cousin Kaylie, she just got a job. She always made sure they provided for Annika," Puccio said. "They were talking about the future and getting married."
Bianco worked a second job at a Papa Rock's Pizza in Monroeville, where he's already missed.
"David was a great employee," Guiliani said. "More importantly, he was a great person, a great family man. He was so proud of his little daughter. Just a tragic, tragic accident."
Coleman is in serious condition, under guard at UPMC Mercy Hospital. A female passenger in Coleman's car suffered a broken wrist.
As of Friday night, Coleman had not been formally arraigned on charges that include vehicular homicide.
At the site of the horrific Thursday crash, a roadside memorial continues to grow. Jennifer George brought her two children to the memorial Friday evening and placed a stuffed animal at the spot.
"You feel horrible for family that went through this tragedy," George said. I just wish that the community would come together, not only for the family but, for the police officer because while everybody was at Thanksgiving dinner with their family, he was out here trying to protect and serve, and a family lost their lives."
The family that was killed was from the Borough of Pitcairn.
Pitcairn Mayor Betsy Stevick says the community will hold a vigil Sunday night, at the Pitcairn ballfield to remember the three lives lost, and to try to raise money for to help pay for funeral costs.
A GoFundMe has been started to help pay for some of the funeral expenses.
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