Grandmother dies in accident
JEFFERSON TWP — A grandmother waiting for a hair appointment at a beauty salon was killed Friday morning when an SUV crashed through the side of the building.
State police said Janet Huth, 67, of Cabot was killed when a 2008 Subaru Forester driven by Carol Peters, 74, of Butler crashed into the side of the Scissor Heaven hairstyling and tanning salon at 732 N. Pike Road, just south of the entrance to Laura Doerr Park.
The accident occurred just before 11:30 a.m.
Authorities at the scene said Huth was sitting in the waiting area when the SUV crashed through the front window, hitting her and pinning her underneath the vehicle and wreckage.
Authorities said Peters was not injured, but was taken to a hospital.
Butler County Coroner William Young said Saturday morning that Huth died of blunt force trauma. There will not be an autopsy.
It was not immediately known what caused Peters to drive through the building.
The salon is about 50 yards from North Pike Road, up a gravel driveway. It shares a building with Touch of Health Massage.
Peters' vehicle entered the building from a parking space in front. It crashed almost directly into the large window at the salon.
A man who also was sitting in the waiting area had minor injuries, according to police.
Numerous state police officers responded, while the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company assisted at the scene.
Fire Chief Chris Ballina said Huth was pinned between the SUV and a half-wall a couple feet inside the front door. Emergency crews had to extricate her from the wreckage by tearing down the half wall and lifting the front of the vehicle.
“Three-fourths of the vehicle was through the (exterior) wall,” he said.
Ballina said the man in the waiting room narrowly escaped serious injury.
“If he would've been sitting two feet to his left, he would've been hit too,” he said.
The salon is owned by Lori and Rick Roberts of Saxonburg.Lori Roberts said she and two other employees were working at the time of the crash.She said there were a couple of other customers there other than the two in the waiting area.The salon has three styling stations.Roberts said she knows both Huth and Peters.“It's really tragic,” she said, fighting back tears. “Both were customers for a long time. I cared for both deeply. It's very hard.“You never imagine something like this would happen,” she said.Roberts said she and her husband built the building in 1995. The couple has insurance on the building.Father Mark Pattock of St. Joseph's Church in Cabot said both Huth and Peters were parishioners at his church.Pattock came to the salon to pray with relatives of the victim and others at the scene.“We wanted to console the family and show God's love,” he said.Bud Murray, the owner of Murray's Stream Master across North Pike Road, said the accident tied traffic up along North Pike Road throughout the day.He did not see the crash, but had numerous people asking about it.Authorities were on the scene for several hours. Traffic along North Pike Road was frequently slowed or stopped while different emergency crews came and went on and off the property.A Butler County deputy coroner arrived shortly after 2 p.m.The SUV was finally pulled from the wall about 3:45 p.m. by John Malinski Towing.Police said at the scene it was unknown whether any charges would be filed.Huth is survived by her daughter, Rebecca Huth Venesky and her husband Greg; her son, Regis Huth III and his wife Sara; three grandchildren, Hailey, Tia and Michael Venesky; and numerous brothers and sisters.She had been a secretary at Penn Dixie Cement in Cabot and then worked at the Gaston Chiropractic Center in Sarver until 2008.Her husband, Regis Huth Jr., died in 2006.Geibel Funeral Home in Butler is handling funeral arrangements for Huth.
