One dead after Tuesday morning crash in Rush Township, police say
A Blair County man died Tuesday in a multivehicle crash in Rush Township, state police at Rockview said.
An Illinois woman driving westbound about 7:30 a.m. along U.S. Route 322 lost control of her 2016 Freightliner Cascadia and skidded into the eastbound lane, police wrote.
A 2011 BMW 328i driven by Joseph Heath, 49, was struck by the tractor-trailer. The force of the crash pushed Heath’s car into a legally parked, unoccupied vehicle off the highway, police wrote.
Heath died of head trauma, Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers wrote in a statement Wednesday. His death was ruled accidental. The woman was uninjured.
The highway was closed between state Route 504 and Sandy Ridge Trail for nearly six hours. Moshannon Valley EMS and Hope Fire Company also responded.
A winter weather advisory was in effect until 3 p.m. in Centre County. Mixed precipitation, including freezing rain, fell throughout the county.
There were 11 fatal crashes in Rush Township from 2010 through 2019, according to state Department of Transportation data, the most of any municipality in Centre County.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 4:10 PM.