BUTLER TWP — A 48-year-old Center Township man died Wednesday night after suffering a heart attack and crashing his sport utility vehicle 200 feet down a hillside on Route 422, authorities said.

Butler Township police and firefighters had to crawl and use ropes to reach the overturned vehicle where they found Thomas A. Mosley dead inside.

An autopsy this morning determined Mosley had “bad arteries” that caused the heart attack, said Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr.

“He was probably dead when he left the road and went over the embankment,” Barr said.

Mosley was traveling east on Route 422 between the Route 8 and Lyndora exits when his 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada drifted off the road and hit a guardrail.

There were no signs of skid marks to indicate he tried to apply his brakes before losing control of the SUV.

“He rode the guardrail for a ways and then went over and down the hillside,” said Chief Keven Kelly of the Mercer Road Volunteer Fire Department. “The vehicle hit some trees and brush going down.”

The SUV ended on its roof. Kelly said that although Mosley was not wearing a seat belt, it would not likely have made a difference in the outcome of the violent crash.

Two police officers cautiously walked and crawled — and sometimes slid — down the steep embankment to get to the SUV. Two firefighters, using ropes, joined the officers in descending the hillside.

The would-be rescuers looked in the SUV and determined that Mosley was dead.

Rescuers, citing safety concerns, decided to call in a wrecker to pull the vehicle up with the body inside.

Once the large tow truck got there, it took about an hour to recover the SUV. Barr finally pronounced Mosley dead about 11 p.m.

Butler Township Fire District 3 and Butler Ambulance Service assisted at the scene. Mercer Road fire crews were back at their station about 12:30 a.m. today.