Turtle Creek woman gets jail time for fatal hit-and-run
A Turtle Creek woman will spend at least nine months in jail for killing a pedestrian in McKeesport last year and leaving the scene.
Hanna Nickole Frank, 20, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle in June. As part of a plea agreement, Frank must serve nine to 18 months in Allegheny County Jail to be followed by 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
Frank was taken into custody following Thursday’s sentencing hearing to begin serving her sentence.
A criminal complaint filed in the case said McKeesport police were called to Fifth Avenue at Lincoln Way just after 11 p.m. May 14, 2022, for a report of a pedestrian struck by a car.
Responding officers said they found John May, 22, of McKeesport, unresponsive on a sidewalk. He was taken to UPMC McKeesport, where he was pronounced dead. The vehicle that struck him had left the scene, the complaint said.
A witness told police they saw a pedestrian fly up into the air and onto the sidewalk after being struck by a small silver SUV, which continued traveling south after the impact. The witness told police the SUV did not slow down or stop.
Investigators found pieces of the SUV’s headlight on scene and also collected information from the license plate reading cameras in the area.
They traced the vehicle back to Frank.
When they located her about five hours later, they said they found the vehicle and it had extensive damage to the front passenger side.
Frank admitted she hit something in the intersection but said she did not know what it was.
“Frank said she had the green light and was probably driving faster than the speed limit when she hit something,” the complaint said. “Frank said that she got scared and did not stop.”
She continued to her destination in McKeesport, called her mother and said something happened to the car while she was at work, police said.
During Thursday’s hearing, Frank apologized to the victim’s family.
Her attorney, Randall Ricciuti, told the court that his client didn’t know she struck a person.
“She made a tragic judgment in error,” he said. “She wishes she could go back in time and change everything.”
Frank had only had her driver’s license for four months at the time of the accident.
“She panicked, and she didn’t stay at the scene,” Ricciuti said.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of “Death by Cyanide.” She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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