A woman driving a Jaguar who fled the scene of a hit-and-run in New Kensington's Parnassus neighborhood ended up crashing head-on into two other vehicles roughly 4 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of Route 66 and Mamont Drive in Washington Township, according to a local fire official. The driver was airlifted to a hospital, a man driving one of the other vehicles was taken by ambulance, and a third driver declined medical attention.
Washington Township Assistant Fire Chief Bob Baustert told TribLIVE that the crash traces back to an incident in the Parnassus section of New Kensington. “We were told it started with a hit-and-run in the Parnassus section of New Kensington,” Baustert said, adding that the driver was fleeing the scene when the three-vehicle collision occurred. “She was passing vehicles on Route 66 and ended up hitting two cars head-on,” he said.
Washington Township police responded to the scene and directed TribLIVE to contact the chief the following Friday morning for further details, while New Kensington police did not immediately return a message seeking comment, per the same report. The crash site was cleared in a little over an hour, according to the outlet's account.
A Dangerous Stretch of Road With a Troubling History
Thursday's wreck is far from an isolated event at that intersection. A fatal crash at the same junction of Route 66 and Mamont Drive involved a car that crossed the center line and struck a pickup truck. On July 9, 2026, a four-vehicle collision at the identical intersection sent four people to hospitals, including one victim flown out by medical helicopter, as reported by WPXI. Emergency crews in that crash had to remove a vehicle's roof to free trapped occupants.
The pattern stretches back years. In December 2022, a two-car head-on collision at the same Route 66 and Mamont Road junction injured three people, all of whom had to be flown by emergency helicopters to regional trauma centers, according to TribLIVE's archive coverage. During that incident, emergency responders set up a helicopter landing zone at nearby Kiski Area South Primary School — a procedure local fire and police departments routinely rely on for critical trauma evacuations along this corridor.
A History of Serious Crashes on Route 66
The repeated severity of wrecks at Route 66 and Mamont Drive highlights the risks drivers face on this stretch in Washington Township.
Possible Charges Tied to the Initial Hit-And-Run
Possible Charges Tied to the Initial Hit-And-Run Potential charges would depend on what investigators determine happened before the crash. No charges have been reported in connection with Thursday's crash.
