A Girardville man has been charged with vehicular homicide for his role in a deadly crash along Gold Star Highway in July 2023.
Zakary Kluchinsky, 19, was driving under the influence when he crashed a red Honda Civic at about 4:20 a.m. on July 31 that year.. The crash caused life-threatening injuries to three people in the vehicle, including Kluchinsky. One person, 18-year-old Jenna Sallade, died at the scene of the crash. The three surviving people involved in the crash, Kluchinksy, Logan Payne, now 19 years old, and Jeffrey Livergood, now 23, were all airlifted from the scene to regional hospitals.
State Police say they responded to the scene of the crash in West Mahanoy Township during the early-morning hours of Juy 31. At the scene, police say they observed the vehicle on the center concrete median of the roadway. All four occupants inside the vehicle had been ejected from it and were laying on the road.
A reconstruction team determined that Kluchinsky was behind the wheel at the time of the crash and lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle was traveling south on Gold Star Highway. At some point, the vehicle left the left southbound travel lane, slid across the right lane and shoulder. Tire marks were on the road along the path the vehicle took, police say. The driver’s side of the vehicle struck an embankment on the west side of the road. It then continued in a southwest direction until it hit two trees. This caused the vehicle to roll over multiple times, throwing all four occupants from the vehicle, before the Honda came to final rest on the median.
Police say they interviewed two witnesses to the crash at the scene. They were each traveling north on Gold Star Highway at the time. They said the Honda was traveling at a high rate of speed and then lights swerving back and forth before the vehicle started to roll over multiple times.
Sallade’s mother was interviewed at the scene of the crash, police say. She said an alert from the Life360 app notified her that her daughter had been in a crash. The app reportedly showed that the vehicle was traveling at 77 mph. The speed limit on that section of the highway is 55 mph, police say.
Sallade’s autopsy, performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Wayne K. Ross, revealed that she died as a result of multiple traumatic injuries.
Livergood was taken to Geisinger Medical Center-Danville for treatment of the following life-threatening injuries:
- Bilateral skull fractures with comminution and depression
- Left SDH with 9mm rightward midline shift
- Small left cerebellar intraparenchymal hematoma
- Pneumocephalus
- Complex facial fractures involving the orbits, sphenoid, ethmoids, maxillary, zygoma, and right petrous bone
- Fractures involve the walls of the carotid canals
- Small right pneumothorax with small volume pneumomediastinum
- Diffuse nodular opacities concerning for aspiration
- Nondisplaced left 4-6 rib fractures anteriorly
- Small subcutaneous contusions left hip
- Right ear laceration with exposed cartilage
Payne was also taken to Geisinger Medical Center-Danville with these injuries:
- Open skull fracture
- Right superior pelvic fracture
- Right sacral ala fracture
- Left superior/inferior pelvic fracture
- Left maxillary sinus
- Left lamina papyracea fracture
- Facial laceration
- Lip laceration
- SDH
- Left frontal bone fracture
- Left frontal extra-axial ICH
- Chin laceration
- BUE abrasions
Kluchinsky was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest with these injuries:
- TBI – Mild Concussion
- Left sided head deformity with laceration
- Left forearm abrasion and lacerations
- Right chest wall tenderness and crepitus
Medical records obtained by police reportedly reveal that Kluchinsky had a BAC of 0.029%. Police say that interviews with Payne and Kluchinsky were conducted. Both reportedly told police that they did not remember who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
A State Police CARS reconstruction of the crash scene showed that Kluchinsky was driving. Sallade was in the right rear passenger seat. Payne was in the front passenger seat, and Livergood, another passenger, was seated in the left rear seat.
Police have charged Kluchinsky with vehicular homicide and two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle, all third-degree felonies. He’s also facing misdemeanor counts of DUI and summary traffic offenses. He was arraigned before District Magistrate Judge Anthony Kilker on Wednesday morning. Kilker set bail at $100,000. Bail was posted later Wednesday. A prelminary hearing is currently scheduled for Feb. 6.
NOTE: Article updated to indicate that bail has been posted.
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