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Probe into fatal crash continues

A police investigation continues into a three-vehicle crash last week that claimed the life of a Butler County man in McCandless Township, Allegheny County.

Stephen Morten, 74, of Evans City, died in the wreck about 11 a.m. Friday on Route 19 just north of the entrance to North Allegheny Senior High School.

Citing the ongoing accident reconstruction investigation, McCandless Township Police Chief Ryan Hawk released few details Tuesday.

He said Morten was driving northbound in a 2020 Kia Soul. Also headed north was a 2015 Ford F-150 pickup driven by Douglas Paxton, 43, of Allison Park.

The other driver, Michael Kinzel, 25, of Pittsburgh, was in a 2018 Isuzu box truck, police said, and he was pulling onto Route 19 from Baierl Chevrolet,

Hawk would not say how the accident occurred, but noted road or weather conditions were not factors in the crash. There were no indications that drugs or alcohol were involved.

Morten was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy Saturday ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, neck and chest, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office. The manner of death was listed as accidental.

Neither Paxton nor Kinzel were injured in the crash. Police said all three drivers were wearing seat belts. The Kia and box truck had to be towed.

Investigators interviewed Paxton and Kinzel, Hawk said, and both are cooperating with police. He said he did not know if charges would be filed.

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