Salzburg man pleads guilty to vehicular homicide in fatal crash on Route 22

GREENSBURG, PA — A Saltsburg man has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in connection with a fatal crash that killed a Blairsville man on Highway 22 in Derry Township in September 2020. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli announced that Martin McKnight, 47, entered a guilty plea before Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani.

McKnight was cited for failing to stop for a red light at the intersection of Highway 981 and Highway 22, causing a collision with a pickup truck driven by 62-year-old Alan Goldisen. Witnesses told police that McKnight ran a red light, hitting the driver’s side door of Goldisen’s car. After the crash, McKnight abandoned his vehicle and fled the scene, but turned himself in to Pennsylvania State Police the next day.

Goldisen was hospitalized after the collision and later died of complications from his injuries nearly a month later.

As part of the sentence, McKnight received two to five years in prison, followed by two years of probation. District Attorney Ziccarelli thanked the Pennsylvania State Police at Kiski for the investigation, as well as Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli, who prosecuted the case.

McKnight’s guilty plea closes the case three years after the tragic incident.