Truck found in creek; owner located later
ZELIENOPLE — It took five hours or so, but police finally found the suspected driver who crashed his pickup truck into a creek early Tuesday morning.
An officer spotted the 45-year-old man, who police did not identify, between 9:30 and 10 a.m. walking behind Market Street near Zelienople Self Storage, said Zelienople Police Chief Jim Miller.
Police and firefighters began looking for him soon after a passing motorist called 911 about 4:20 a.m., to report finding the wreck on Muntz Run Road off Route 68 near the Jackson Township line.
They believe he drove his Chevrolet S-10 through a guardrail. The truck traveled down a hillside and went front-end first into a creek.
“It was in 4 to 4½ feet of water,” said Rob Reeb, deputy fire chief for the Harmony Fire District.
The driver's door was opened but no one was around, Reeb said. Volunteer firefighters immediately searched the creek but to no avail.
The truck's air bags had deployed and there was front-end damage to the vehicle.
Miller said authorities believe the owner of the truck was driving it.
Police from Zelienople and Jackson Township soon intensified the search, using cell-phone technology to track the man's movements.
Searchers “pinged” his phone, Miller said, and at one point tracked him to a wooded area along Gudekunst Road, west of Route 19, in Jackson Township, not far from his home.
It was not immediately known what the man told police when they found him. His mother arrived a short time later and drove him home.
Miller said police planned to formally interview him Tuesday night at the station. No decision has been made about possible charges.
