The parents of a Penn Township teen who died in a vehicle collision in 2020 have sued four state energy companies along with the state Department of Transportation for what they believe are their roles in causing their child’s death.
Sunoco Pipeline, Dominion Energy Transmission, Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage Inc., and Columbia Gas, along with PennDOT have been named as defendants by the parents of former Penn-Trafford High School pitcher MacLean Maund. They allege that pipeline construction on the highway led to conditions that caused Maund to lose control of his vehicle and collide head-on with a pickup truck on Route 130 between Jeannette and Harrison City.
The lawsuit alleges that construction caused water to pool on the roadway and freeze, but Penn Township Police Chief John Otto is quoted as saying that while water was present on the highway, “the temperature was above 40 degrees on the day of the accident.” According to the local CBS affiliate, Maund’s vehicle was struck after he lost control and it ended up sideways on the roadway.
After a successful high school baseball career, the star pitcher was enrolled as a freshman at Seton Hill University and played for that school’s team as well. Penn-Trafford saw its first trip to the WPIAL championship game in its history last year with Maund on the pitcher’s mound throwing a 6-1 record with opposing batters hitting only .188 against him among 61 strikeouts.
Reports of the incident do not mention whether other drivers contacted authorities to warn of surprisingly hazardous conditions on that stretch of Route 130 during that fateful day or if they were able to negotiate the area without issue.
