Jessica Royall

CRANBERRY TWP — Additional charges are expected to be filed against a Cranberry woman whose boyfriend clung to her SUV as she drove away Friday, before falling and receiving injuries resulting in his death.

Police said Jessica A. Royall, 28, drove her Buick Rendezvous a half-mile on Cross Creek Drive with Ryan Minett, 27, of New Brighton, hanging from a luggage rack on the rear driver’s side of the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. Minett later died from injuries sustained in the incident.

First responders were called to Cross Creek Drive around 4:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a one-vehicle accident with an injured man lying by the side of the road.

Several witnesses called 911 to report the incident, and Royall, who had returned to her home nearby on Boardwalk Drive, also called 911, according to court documents.

In her account of the incident to police, Royall allegedly said she and Minett were having an argument at her house and she got in her SUV to leave and pick up her children in North Huntingdon.

She told police that Minett confronted her in the driveway and held onto the vehicle as she drove away, documents say. She said Minett held onto the vehicle while she drove from Boardwalk Drive to Waterlilly Lane, to Theda-Dori Street to Cross Creek Drive. She claimed that she stopped at least four times to try to get him to stop hanging onto the vehicle, documents state.

Police said they talked to nine witnesses who reported seeing the vehicle speeding on Cross Creek Drive with Minett hanging from a luggage rack and hitting three curbs. He fell off near the intersection with Little Pine Road, where he tumbled and hit a light pole, the affidavit said. Investigators allege that he was dragged 2,629 feet. Witnesses told officers the windows of the vehicle were up when the man was hanging on.

Royall initially was charged with felony aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, felony aggravated assault by vehicle, DUI, recklessly endangering another person and several summary traffic offenses.

On Sunday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Minett’s death a homicide, with the official cause of death listed as “blunt impact injuries to head, torso and extremities,” according to the report.

Following Minett’s death, additional charges are expected to be filed. According to Chuck Mascellino, Cranberry Township police sergeant, the new charges were expected to include homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while DUI and homicide. They were being reviewed by the Butler County District Attorney on Monday morning.

Royall remains housed in Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail. An April 6 preliminary hearing is scheduled.

Royall, whose driver’s license is suspended, is also facing criminal charges in Allegheny County, where White Oak police charged her last July with misdemeanor accidents involving death or personal injury, according to court records.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Allegheny County, officers were called to the Rainbow Shopping Center for a hit and run incident.

The driver of the vehicle told police the vehicle had struck them from behind, almost causing them to leave the road. He pulled over to exchange information and survey the damage, but the suspect’s vehicle passed the scene and veered into the wrong lane of traffic.

White Oak police contacted Cranberry police to see if they could make contact with the owner of the vehicle, who was found to live in the township. They found the vehicle, which sustained front-end damage, and also spoke with the owner of the vehicle, who said her daughter, Jessica Royall, had been driving it at the time of the incident. The owner said she had a GPS unit installed in the vehicle to keep track of her daughter’s whereabouts, “because of her daughter’s battle with drug addiction,” the complaint states.

Police also found that Royall had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on drug charges. Cranberry police arrested her later that evening, and she allegedly, “offered an apologetic and unsolicited admission” to the incident.

She said she had been traveling too fast when rounding a bend and collided with another vehicle before fleeing the area in the opposite lanes. She allegedly told police she fled because she was aware of the existing warrant.

Royall was scheduled to appear for a hearing on those charges Monday before Magistrate Thomas Miller in Allegheny County, though that date was postponed.

She has two previous misdemeanor convictions on drug possession charges.