This article was originally published on GoErie.com by Tim Hahn on August 22, 2018
A 19-year-old Erie man was charged with involuntary manslaughter and homicide by vehicle while driving drunk in the death of a female construction worker along Interstate 90 in Harborcreek Township Tuesday morning.
The driver, Eric M. West, was taken into custody after authorities stopped him along Route 89 in an area of Erie County covered by state police in Corry on Tuesday morning, according to state police. He was apprehended about a half-hour after state police issued an alert to law enforcement agencies in the Erie region to be on the lookout for the suspected hitting vehicle, which was described by witnesses as a tan Buick LeSabre.
The alert was issued roughly 30 minutes after the accident was reported at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday on I-90 eastbound near Exit 35, the Harborcreek exit. Authorities reported that a pedestrian had been struck, and the pedestrian was on the roadway and was not breathing. The first emergency crews to arrive on scene reported that the pedestrian was deceased.
Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook identified the pedestrian as Jacqueline Ohly, 26, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:23 a.m., Cook said.
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