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GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Saltsburg man pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in connection with a fatal crash that claimed the life of a Blairsville man on Route 22 in Derry Township in September 2020. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli announced that Martin McKnight, 47, entered the guilty plea before Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani.

McKnight was charged after he failed to stop at a red light at the intersection of Route 981 and Route 22, causing a collision with a pickup truck driven by 62-year-old Alan Goldizen. Witnesses told police that McKnight ran a red light, hitting the driver’s side door of Goldizen’s vehicle. Following the crash, McKnight abandoned his vehicle and fled the scene, but turned himself in to Pennsylvania State Police the next day.

Goldizen was hospitalized after the collision and later died of complications from his injuries nearly a month later.

As part of his sentence, McKnight was ordered to serve 2 to 5 years in prison, followed by two years of probation. DA Ziccarelli expressed his gratitude to the Pennsylvania State Police at Kiski for their investigation and to Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli who prosecuted the case.

McKnight’s guilty plea brings closure to the case more than three years after the tragic incident.