The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday afternoon identified one of the two people killed in Thursday’s tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 79 as Butler County resident Frank L. Tupper, Jr.

Tupper, 54, of Butler City, died at 12:50 a.m. Thursday at the scene of the crash, I-79’s northbound lanes in Sewickley Hills, the medical examiner said. No cause or manner of death has been determined yet.

At 12:27 a.m. Thursday, a tractor-trailer was driving south on I-79, near mile marker 67, when it drove through the center median and continued traveling south in the northbound lanes, state police said.

The tractor-trailer hit a car head-on, pushing both vehicles into an embankment, police said. The trailer part of the tractor-trailer then hit a second car traveling north. It remained unclear in what car Tupper was riding.

The tractor-trailer and the car it collided with head-on went up into flames, police said. The drivers of both vehicles died at the scene. Police initially did not identify the deceased.

Tupper was born on Jan. 11, 1969 in Pittsburgh, according to an obituary posted online. A 25-year member of Laborers Union Local 1058, his family described him as a “corn-hole champion, king of the lawn (and) a man who was never too tired to be of service to those who needed it.”

Tupper is survived by wife, Beth; two sons, Logan and Caedan; and a daughter, Morgan, the obituary said.

Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Butler City is handling funeral arrangements.

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