By Joe Napsha
The Tribune-Review
HERMINIE, Pa. — Speed appears to be a contributing factor in the crash that killed a Sewickley Township firefighter late Monday when her car slammed into a tree near the H.W. Good Elementary School in Herminie, state police said.
Theresa L. Sager, 19, was traveling north on the Herminie-West Newton Road at 10:15 p.m. when she lost control of her 1997 Chevrolet Silverado and hit a tree in a yard on Nittany Lane. The truck overturned just south of the school, according to the state police and the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office.
Sager, who was not wearing a seat belt, died of multiple blunt-force trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:40 p.m. by Deputy Coroner Joshua Zappone. An autopsy will not be performed and toxicology reports are pending.
Sager, who lived in the Sewickley village of Hutchinson, had been a volunteer firefighter at the Hutchinson department for three years, said Chief Bill Dull Jr. Her father, Ralph Sager, previously was a fireman with the same company, Dull said.
Dull said when his fire company responded to the accident, firefighters realized the accident victim was Theresa Sager when they saw the truck.
“We’re all close friends,” Dull said.
Sager was a 2015 Yough High School graduate.
Herminie fire Chief Eric Kline, whose company responded to the accident, could not be reached for comment.
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