Police: Man accused of DUI ‘tried to go around’ pedestrian in fatal crash
The Butler Township man accused of killing a pedestrian with his vehicle while driving drunk told police he “wasn’t looking at the road” and “tried to go around” the man he struck along Harmony Road in Connoquenessing Township, according to charges filed Thursday, July 31.
Robert Pflugh, 58, was charged with one felony count of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol following the alleged Wednesday crash.
State police said a 2006 Saturn Ion, driven by Pflugh, was traveling east on Harmony Road around 11:30 a.m. when he crossed into another travel lane and struck a mailbox before striking Donald B. Phipps, 65, who was standing in his driveway.
Phipps died at the scene before police arrived. While heading to the scene, police said Butler County Emergency Services dispatch reports indicated the man was in cardiac arrest.
A witness, who was indoors, told police he heard a crash and screaming on the road. When going outside, he told police he observed Pflugh standing over Phipps’s body, attempting to lift his foot.
Police reported seeing Pflugh’s vehicle with “extensive damage” to the front driver’s side sitting in a nearby driveway and Pflugh sitting nearby along the side of the road.
According to the police affidavit, he told police he hit Phipps while on the way home from Zelienople.
Police said they later determined through field sobriety tests that Pflugh was driving under the influence.
Pflugh was taken to the police station for a drug evaluation at 12:22 p.m. and consented to a blood test at Butler Memorial Hospital, according to police. Results for both tests are still pending, the affidavit said.
He was arrested and placed in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Annabelle Chipps is a Slippery Rock University graduate and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.
