EVANS CITY — A Butler Township man had fentanyl in his system when he fatally struck a pedestrian with his car earlier this summer, according to a state trooper’s testimony at a Wednesday, Sept. 3, preliminary hearing.

Robert D. Pflugh, 58, saw a felony homicide by vehicle charge and two misdemeanor DUI charges added to his existing charges of felony homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and misdemeanor DUI, which stem from the July 31 crash in Connoquenessing Township that killed Donald B. Phipps, 65.

Pflugh entered a plea of not guilty in the preliminary hearing before District Judge Amy Marcinkiewicz, but all five charges were held for court.

Cynthia Gregor, the former next-door neighbor of Phipps, testified she was sitting on the porch just before the crash in the late morning of July 31 while Phipps was working in his driveway.

Gregor said she had started inside when she heard the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel from her driveway. She turned around and reportedly saw a vehicle cross over the opposite lane and drive through her yard into Phipps’ yard, striking him and his mailbox with a black 2006 Saturn Ion.

The vehicle also struck her mailbox, but she didn’t notice until later.

Gregor, who had lived in her Harmony Road home for 37 years and had been Phipps’ neighbor for most of them, testified she went inside to get her phone and call 911 then went back outside.

“When I stepped back out onto the porch, he was screaming and yelling,” she said about Pflugh.

When she came back out, Gregor said Pflugh had exited the vehicle and was standing by the front of the car near Phipps’ body on the road.

Gregor testified Pflugh was attempting to straighten Phipps’ legs when she passed by him and went around the vehicle to record its license plate number. Gregor then spoke to Pennsylvania State Police at the scene.

Trooper Trevor Gallo testified he was dispatched around 11:25 a.m. and arrived 10 minutes later after fire and ambulance services were already at the scene. He found a white sheet already over Phipps’ body in the road about 50 feet from the driveway.

Gallo said he saw extensive damage to the Saturn Ion’s front driver’s side and windshield, which had been splattered with blood. He said crash analysis team that responded has not yet submitted a report showing how fast the vehicle was going during the impact.

Gallo said Pflugh was sitting on Phipps’ property under a tree with no observable injuries when Gallo went to speak with him.

Gallo said they spoke for 20-30 seconds before he saw signs of impairment in his sluggish demeanor and pinpoint pupils, which can point toward opioid usage, he said.

Gallo said Pflugh told him he wasn’t looking at the road and attempted to go around Phipps. Pflugh reportedly agreed to perform field sobriety tests at the scene but declined a drug recognition evaluation.

Public defender Terri Schultz highlighted Gallo had conducted more than 50 DUI investigations, but this would be his first for homicide by vehicle while DUI.

Trooper Ryan Magill then verified if Pflugh could perform field sobriety tests. Pflugh told Magill he had bad knees, has a condition that causes swelling in his legs and had taken oxycodone earlier that morning. Magill did not confirm if Pflugh had an oxycodone prescription, Schultz said.

Magill said he noticed more signs of impairment during testing. Schultz questioned his grading on the walk-and-turn and one-leg-stand tests after establishing his leg conditions, but Magill said he observed Pflugh walking normally before conducting the tests.

Magill also testified Pflugh was uncertain in his ability to perform the one-leg stand but said he “would try.”

Pflugh was taken to the state police’s Butler barracks then Butler Memorial Hospital where his blood was drawn at 1:37 p.m., Magill said. Police discovered later that the blood tested positive for fentanyl.

Pflugh’s formal arraignment is scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 21 in Butler County Common Pleas Courtroom 5.