Thanksgiving Day crash ‘most terrible thing I’ve ever seen,’ police officer testifies

The North Versailles police officer who chased a man in his car before a crash on Thanksgiving Day 2016 that killed three people testified at the man’s trial Friday that the collision and carnage “was the most terrible thing I’ve ever seen.”

During two hours of testimony Friday morning in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, Officer Norman Locke, a now-20-year veteran of the North Versailles Police Department, described how he chased Demetrius Coleman through 18 intersections along Route 30 before the fatal crash at the intersection of routes 30 and 48.

The pursuit had started with an attempted traffic stop for an illegal turn in East McKeesport just a few minutes earlier, the officer testified. “I can’t describe to you how sudden it was,” he said about the crash. “It was …,” he snapped his fingers, “now.”

Killed instantly when Coleman’s vehicle smashed into theirs were three members of a Pitcairn family on their way to a holiday dinner: David Lee Bianco, 29; his fiancee Kaylie Meininger, 21; and their daughter Annika, 2.

Coleman, 24, of Homewood, is being tried on three counts of thirddegree murder, as well as homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing police, driving under the influence and other charges. The trial began Thursday.

Some of the seven family members and friends of the Bianco/ Meininger family attending the trial Friday audibly gasped and then teared up and dabbed their eyes after they watched a video shown for the jury that showed the moment of the crash from a Popeye’s restaurant at the intersection.

Though it was shot from inside the lobby of the restaurant, and much of the picture was obscured by parts of the building, Coleman’s car could be seen speeding into the intersection and plowing into the side of the victims’ car, which

erupted into a fireball before the force of the impact drove both cars to the edge of the camera’s view.

Assistant District Attorney Douglas Maloney asked Officer Locke if he had ever seen a crash like that before.

“I honestly never have, no,” Officer Locke said.

Mr. Maloney then asked if he had ever seen someone drive like Coleman had, at such a high rate of speed and in and out of lanes, including into oncoming traffic.

“Never as recklessly and fast as he was,” Officer Locke answered.

Proving that Coleman was reckless will be critical to convicting him of thirddegree murder.

In his opening statement Thursday, Mr. Maloney said he was going to show that Coleman committed “extreme, sustained recklessness. … He didn’t brake, he didn’t slow down, he didn’t swerve or anything else.”

During testimony Friday, Officer Locke said he never saw Coleman’s brake lights turn on during the chase, but he saw him weave around vehicles five or six times and also drive into oncoming lanes. But Officer Locke had a limited view of the crash itself because he was as much as 600 yards behind Coleman when it occurred.

Under cross-examination, Officer Locke was asked by Coleman’s defense attorney, T. Brent McCune, if he weaved or drove in the oncoming lanes to chase Coleman.

He said he didn’t but then decided to drive in the oncoming lanes on Route 30 as he got closer to the Route 48 intersection because he knew from working in the area how dangerous that heavily traveled intersection was.

“So even you made the decision to drive in the oncoming lanes?” Mr. McCune asked him.

“I’m permitted by law to do that,” Officer Locke said.

During testimony Friday afternoon, an accident reconstruction specialist with the Pennsylvania State Police, Cpl. Todd Stephenson, said that during the chase, Coleman drove 1.88 miles in 1 minute and 26 seconds, meaning his average speed during that time was 78.73 mph along a stretch of Route 30 with a 40 mph speed limit.

Cpl. Stephenson said two business video surveillance cameras along the chase route allowed him to estimate how fast Coleman was driving in front of those two businesses.

In front of Cher-Ban Tire, about a half-mile from the start of the chase, Coleman was shown going from 83 to 88 mph. In front of Marconi Auto, about a half-mile prior to the crash, Coleman was shown going from 75 to 90 mph.

Mr. McCune asked Cpl. Stephenson about a telephone pole near the crash site that was sheared off and left dangling by the wires at the top.

He asked the corporal if — in his reconstruction of the impact areas of the Bianco/Meininger car — the explosion could have occurred because of the impact of their car with the telephone pole and not the impact with Coleman’s car.

Cpl. Stephenson said he did not know, but he offered that telephone poles “are designed to shear off.”

Two witnesses and one victim of the crash also testified Friday afternoon.

One of the witnesses was Amy Peden, who, like the Bianco/Meininger family, was headed to a family Thanksgiving dinner with her 13-year-old son. Ms. Peden said she was waiting to turn left on Route 48 when “a streak of white” flew by and then she heard the explosion that created a debris cloud as tall as the street lights there.

“It was just an explosion, very loud,” she said. “I can still hear it. It’s not something you forget.”