Man killed during Uniontown police chase
A man was killed Monday evening when a driver who was allegedly fleeing police hit his dump truck on Connellsville Street in Uniontown.
Police said Dominique Curtis Kitchen, 28, of Clarendon Avenue fled a traffic stop during an investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Narcotics Enforcement Division when he hit the driver’s side of the truck being driven by Elias Nickman.
The collision caused the truck to “spin violently” into the Mike’s Auto parking lot, causing it to hit two parked vehicles, Cpl. Kevin Dejuliis wrote in court documents. Nickman, whose age and hometown were not immediately available, was ejected from the vehicle and taken to Uniontown Hospital. He was pronounced dead about an hour later.
Kitchen was also injured, and was flown by medical helicopter to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Police said narcotics agents saw Kitchen conducting a drug deal around 5:45 p.m. on Lincoln Street, and tried to pull him over Lenox Street because his vehicle had inoperable lights. He initially stopped for police, but then drove off, according to court paperwork.
Police alleged he drove at “excessive speeds” through 10 stop signs and drove on the wrong side of the road. The collision occurred at the intersection of Thomas and Connellsville streets, where police said Kitchen passed two vehicles and drove through a stop sign. As he entered Connellsville Street, Kitchen’s vehicle hit Nickman’s truck, police said.
Police issued a warrant for Kitchen, who remains hospitalized. He is charged with criminal homicide, homicide by vehicle, fleeing or attempting to elude officer, accident involving death or personal injury, involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person.