Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr. has released the name of the victim of a fatal crash Friday afternoon on Old Route 119 in White Township, and state police have released the names of the other people involved in that three-vehicle accident.
The coroner says 61-year-old Robert Daniel Riddle of Creekside was pronounced dead by a doctor at the Indiana Regional Medical Center at 4:50 PM, about an hour after the collision near McHenry Road. Overman says the cause of death was blunt force trauma of the chest.
Riddle’s northbound SUV dropped off the berm and then re-entered the highway and crossed the center line, running head-on into the southbound vehicle of 33-year-old Melissa Droske of Dayton, causing Droske’s vehicle to leave the road, hit an embankment, and overturn. Riddle’s vehicle then hit a car driven by 20-year-old Robert Lutz Jr. of Mentcle.
Droske was flown from the scene to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh with major injuries. There is no update on her condition. A 9-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy in her vehicle were flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital, the girl with moderate injuries and the boy with minor injuries. Lutz was not injured.
