The Morning Call
LEHIGH TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Lehigh Township man died early Friday when his car collided with a Slatington fire truck as he attempted to pass another vehicle on Cherryville Road in Allen Township, the Northampton County coroner said.
Coroner Zachary Lysek identified the driver of the car as 24-year-old Justin Tyler Gnas of the 3700 block of Mountain View Drive. His death was accidental and caused by multiple blunt-force trauma, Lysek said.
State police at Bethlehem said the crash happened shortly after 7 a.m. as Gnas passed a vehicle headed north on Cherryville Road.
He was attempting to merge back into the right lane of the two-lane road when his Mitsubishi Eclipse struck the southbound fire truck head-on, according to state police.
Lysek said the truck with the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department was headed for routine maintenance. He said the scene of the crash was at a curve in the road. The crash took place about 100 yards north of Cihylik Farms and Greenhouses.
Firefighters, traffic police and paramedics arrived at the scene — about two miles north of Northampton, where the road winds through open fields in Allen Township.
Emergency crews shut down Cherryville Road in the area of Kohls Road.
The crash site is the same area where a 60-year-old Whitehall Township woman was killed in a head-on crash on May 3, 2016.
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