Pennsylvania Woman Charged With Texting Before Fatal Crash

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with text-messaging while driving in connection with a crash earlier this month that killed a former volunteer fire chief.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for 42-year-old Laura Gargiulo, of Volant, who also faces charges including homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter in the wreck that killed 68-year-old Daniel Gallatin on May 7.

Gallatin was the former chief in Scott Township, about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Police obtained a search warrant for the woman’s phone records and determined she had a text message open at the time of the crash in which she rear-ended Gallatin’s motorcycle. He and the cycle were dragged under Gargiulo’s car on Route 956 about 1:30 p.m. that day.

Gargiulo faces a preliminary hearing Thursday and her listed phone number has been disconnected.

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