Trial begins in 2015 hit-and-run death of cyclist

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The trial began Thursday for a New Kensington man charged in a hit-and-run incident that killed a bicyclist on Steubenville Pike in North Fayette in 2015.

Five people testified during the opening day of the trial for Zachary Chicko, 32. Investigators said the passenger-side mirror of his vehicle struck bicyclist Brandon Ortmann, 24, in the face, throwing him off his bike just before 8 p.m. Sept. 18, 2015. He died of head injuries, the Allegheny County Coroner’s office determined.

Mr. Chicko is charged with causing an accident involving deathor personal injury, causing an accident involving death or injury while not properly licensed, driving with a suspended or revoked license, driving an unregistered vehicle and operating a vehicle without required financialresponsibility.

“Oh, my God, he hit him, oh, my God, the bicyclist got hit,” eyewitness Thomas Broder testified about his reaction at the accident scene.

Mr. Broder, who called 911 and applied pressure to the victim’s bleeding head, said he didn’t see the vehicle that hit Mr. Ortmann slow down during or after the collision. He said the vehicle appeared to be traveling at about the speedlimit, or 35 mph.

Sgt. Chad Slovick, a crash reconstruction investigator with the North Fayette police, said Mr. Chicko was traveling east in the eastbound lane when he collided with Mr. Ortmann, who was traveling west in the same lane. It is illegal for bicyclists to ride against traffic on a two-lane road, according to Pennsylvania traffic laws. The part of Steubenville Pike where the accident occurred had neither a sidewalk nor a dedicatedbike lane.

All that investigators found at the scene were black plastic pieces from a side mirror, pieces from a headlight assembly, and Mr. Ortmann’s mangled bike, Sgt. Slovick said.

According to an affidavit, video surveillance footage from nearby businesses was used to identify a pickup truck with a broken headlamp pulling a trailer as a possible suspect vehicle.

North Fayette police, with the help of the victim’s mother, posted details about the vehicle on a billboard on Interstate 376, trying to generate information about a suspect.

Four months after the accident, a person who saw the billboard called police and gave them Mr. Chicko’s address, adding that for the past few months he had been acting strangely, according to the affidavit.

“He started to break down, saying he’s not been able to sleep since this happened,” Sgt. Slovick said of his questioning of Mr. Chicko on Jan. 28, 2016, after police found parts of a side mirror and fender on Mr. Chicko’s property that matched evidence from the accident scene.

Initially, Mr. Chicko did not admit to having been involved in an accident, but he later said he was driving the suspect vehicle at the time of the accident, police said.

According to the affidavit, he didn’t know what he had hit at the time, and became scared and left.

The case continues Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.