A good Samaritan who tipped state police after a hit-and-run crash killed a pedestrian in Hempfield early Monday gave investigators the boost they needed to apprehend a suspect within 25 hours, state police said.
"Probably without that telephone call, we could have been stuck. But this good Samaritan, who didn't see the accident but noticed the damage to the vehicle, followed him for a little bit until he left Route 30, and then telephoned us with information later that morning, giving us an important lead," Trooper John Fisanich said at a news conference Wednesday.
On Tuesday, state police in Greensburg charged Matthew Richard Snyder, 26, of North Huntingdon with homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence of alcohol, failing to render aid and careless driving.
He is accused in the 2:15 a.m. crash that killed Christopher Allen Hays, 18, of Grapeville. Hays was pushing a bicycle off the westbound lanes of Route 30, near Taco Bell, when he was struck. The victim just completed a shift at Taco Bell.
