02-08-2025
19-year-old on e-bike killed in Westmoreland County hit-and-run
State police in Greensburg are working to identify who was driving a vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Hempfield Township Thursday night.
It happened on College Avenue near the intersection of North Greengate Road around 11 p.m.
The Westmoreland County coroner identified the victim as 19-year-old Jayden Lynch of Jeannette.
Trooper Steve Limani said Lynch was riding an e-bike and was heading westbound on College Avenue when he was hit.
"It takes a very unique type of person to hit somebody, collide, and cause catastrophic damage to another human being and then the first decision you make is to leave the scene of the crash," Limani said.
Limani said the bumper of the car involved fell off at the scene before it fled westbound toward Jeannette.
"One of the key pieces of evidence for our investigation, as it stands right now, was a part of a bumper. Inside that bumper had serial marks and markings that would help us in our investigation to identify that particular vehicle would be either a Kia Rio or Forte that would be a 2011 to 2013 and obviously, with the color we had that we had the color of the vehicle as well, because we had that piece of the of the vehicle," Limani said.
State police said they then contacted Jeannette police who became a key component in helping find the vehicle, later found parked outside a home in Jeannette.
"We were clearly able to see from being outside that Jeannette residence that that vehicle was also missing the piece of the bumper that would have had been left on the roadway that was struck because of the collision," Limani said.
From there, investigators worked to make contact with those inside the home.
"They were able to see that there was movement inside the home, but no one came in and allowed us to come into the home," Limani said. "At that point in time, we set up a perimeter and had a type of search warrant to enter the residence to see who the people that were in there."
One investigators were able to go inside, police said multiple people were there but all of them were uncooperative.
"We're still only hours into the investigation, and I hope people can have some patience with us. We feel very confident that we're going to be able to follow through at some point in time with an arrest," Limani said.
Limani said the vehicle involved is now in the state police impound lot where investigators are collecting evidence.
"We're just now working through the rest of the circumstances that surrounding this, this horrific incident where we had a young man lose his life here in Hempfield Township," Limani said.
State police are asking anyone who may live in the area of the crash to check their doorbell video and are asking any witnesses of the crash to call PSP Greensburg at 724-832-3288.
Those who live near where the crash happened described the intersection as a dangerous one.
"There's been times I've pulled out and almost been struck by a vehicle going the wrong way, blasting through the light or speeding. I go extremely slow at this intersection," Marcus Weakland said.
Weakland said he heard a car beeping around 11 p.m. Thursday night.
"We looked out the window. Saw someone had their four-ways on. Thought it was a fender bender at most," Weakland said. "We were shocked when we saw that this morning. It wasn't just a fender bender. It wasn't just an angry driver. It was actually somebody getting hit and killed."
Weakland believes there needs to be more signs at the intersection to help ease traffic and potential collisions.
"There's a turning lane in Jeannette that you turn left at and sometimes people go straight through it," Weakland said. "There needs to be more signage. Especially with the situation turning into Jeannette and someone goes straight up Greengate hill, and doesn't look at the signage on the ground. There's signage on the ground but nothing up high. It doesn't show you that this is a turning lane and a straight away lane. There's no signage other than what's on the ground and if you're not looking down, you're not paying attention. You may impact someone else."
The Westmoreland County Coroner said Lynch was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
A cause and manner of death are pending autopsy and toxicology results.
