Pittsburgh police searching for driver who struck, toppled World War I memorial
By Ricky Sayer
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PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Pittsburgh police are working to determine the truck driver responsible for knocking over a World War I memorial in the city’s Troy Hill neighborhood early Sunday morning.
Security camera footage captured a tractor-trailer trying to navigate out of a parking lot on Lowrie Street just before 4 a.m. Neighbors awoke to loud screeching as the driver struggled.
“It was bleeding into my dream,” said Josh Brower. “Sounded like somebody was stuck, and they were just revving their engine, trying to get unstuck.”
He and Maura Bittle looked outside their window and saw the driver spending at least five minutes trying to get onto one of Troy Hill’s narrow streets.
“They finally get unstuck, go through the grass over there, and hit the monument, and then fully topple it and just drive off down the street,” Brower said.
The video shows the trailer knocking over the monument while turning onto the street.
“I was pretty beside myself,” Bittle said. “I kind of was just like, ‘Is this actually happening right now?’ And like to watch him, just like, rip through a stone monument, like it was foam. It was just like knowing that’s the sheer power of those things. It’s pretty wild.”
The monument’s toppling comes just days before Veterans Day. The monument lists Troy Hill residents who served in World War I and was installed in 1920. It now sits on its side, with traffic cones around it, and police tape still up nearby.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said the initial call was for a semi-truck either illegally parked or stuck in the roadway. While en route, they received a call saying the truck driver had struck a utility pole and nearby war memorial. The truck driver did not remain on the scene, the statement read.
Police are reviewing security footage to determine the driver’s identity.
“We just thought it was completely insane, especially to just hit and run,” Brower said.
As for where the truck went next, Reserve Township police posted on Facebook Sunday morning that a tractor-trailer had gotten stuck a few minutes away, leaving minor property damage.
A photo they shared of the scene showed a semi-truck with the same logo on it as the one in the security footage from Troy Hill.
Pittsburgh police are reaching out to Reserve Township police to confirm if there is a connection, a public safety spokesperson told KDKA-TV.
Neighbors said drivers used to regularly hit the Troy Hill memorial, leading to reconfiguration of the intersection to protect it. Multiple neighbors said the update seemed to work, despite Sunday’s incident.
KDKA-TV reached out to Reserve Township police and did not receive a response. KDKA-TV also reached out to Fastmovers Express Inc., the company listed on the side of the truck’s cab, according to a picture provided to KDKA-TV, but did not receive a response.
Pittsburgh police ask anyone with information about the incident to contact the Zone 1 department at 412-323-7201.
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