Masontown man charged with child endangerment

A Masontown man has been sentenced to 27 to 66 months in prison after he crashed a truck carrying his children while intoxicated.

James Empulse, 35, was convicted of endangering the welfare of children and driving under the influence during a trial in October. He was picking up his 1- and 3-year-old sons from daycare when he crashed into another car on Walnut Hill Road in George Township in July 2022, police said.

Police said Empul was speeding and his truck flipped onto its roof. He told police he had been smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol the morning of the accident.

The driver and passenger of the car he hit, Tyler Jacob Durst, 29, of Point Marion, and Mercedes Tyler Mecozzi, 27, of Uniontown, were killed.

Empules was charged with vehicular homicide, DUI and vehicular homicide in their deaths, but a Fayette County jury found him not guilty of those charges.