Passenger dies days after crash that closed Centre Hall mountain for hours, police say
A passenger injured earlier this month in a head-on crash that closed part of Centre Hall mountain for more than four hours died Thursday, Spring Township police said Monday.
Chief Adam Salyards did not identify the person Monday. Their cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy, which was completed Monday, Salyards said.
A Pleasant Gap man crossed the double yellow line into oncoming traffic about 8 p.m. Aug. 20 near the intersection of state Route 144 and Lower Greens Valley Road, police wrote in a Facebook post.
Alcohol and speed are believed to be factors in the crash, Salyards said.
The Pleasant Gap man was flown by helicopter to UPMC Altoona. His passenger was not injured, police wrote.
The driver of the second vehicle was flown to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. One of their three passengers was transported to the same hospital by ambulance, while another was treated at Mount Nittany Medical Center.
Another was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. They died five days after the crash, Salyards said.
The Centre County accident reconstruction team, Pleasant Gap Fire Department and EMS, Bellefonte EMS, Centre LifeLink EMS, Mount Nittany Medical Center EMS, Centre Hall fire police, STAT MedEvac and the state Department of Transportation assisted.
An investigation is ongoing.
There were six fatal crashes between 2012-2021 in Spring Township, PennDOT data showed. Twelve fatal crashes were reported during that period in Rush Township, the most of municipality in Centre County.