Community Corner

Moon Man Charged with Injuring Teen in Hit-and-Run Crash

The 76-year-old Moon resident, who came forward a day after the crash, was arraigned Tuesday in Coraopolis District Court.

A 76-year-old Moon Township man has been with hitting a 17-year-old girl with his truck on Moon Clinton Road in October and leaving the scene. 

Clifford Frederick Dilley, of Wyndhurst Drive, is charged with felony accidents involving death or personal injury and reckless driving after an Oct. 29 hit-and-run crash that seriously injured the teen. 

The girl, whom police have not identified, was flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital from the scene of the crash. Police said she has remained hospitalized for weeks and is now in a physical rehabilitation institution. 

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Dilley surrendered to Moon Police at 10 a.m. Tuesday to Coraopolis District Court. He was arraigned that day.

Dilley came forward days after the crash, telling police that he believed he struck a deer with his 2009 Chevrolet Silverado at about 9:30 p.m. while he was driving home from Appain Way Cafe & Lounge.

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He said that a day later he heard about the hit-and-run crash on Moon Clinton Road from news reports and believed he may have been involved. 

"I said, 'Oh man, that can't be me, you know, because as sure as hell I thought I hit a deer,'" Dilley told investigators, according to a police report. 

Dilley at first told police that he was arriving home from a trip to the Beaver Valley Mall and Dick's Sporting Goods on the night of the crash, but he later recanted that story and said he had been to the Moon Clinton Road bar between noon and 8 p.m., where he ate and consumed six mixed drinks. 

As he was driving back from the bar, he said, he thought he had spotted a deer and "jerked his wheel to the right." He continued home without stopping and later discovered that the front of his vehicle was damaged, he said. 

Police said the teen was walking home that night on Moon Clinton Road after eating at McDonald's with her boyfriend. She was walking ahead of him near Convair Drive when the boy said he "heard a thud and saw the girl go down in front of him." 

When police found the girl she was "lying on her back bleeding from the mouth and unconscious. Her blue jeans were ripped and her shoes and socks were off her feet." 

Her boyfriend told police that she "could not speak and was gurgling and had difficulty breathing," according to the report. 

Dilley surrendered his pickup truck to investigators. Moon Police Chief Leo McCarthy said in a statement that evidence collected from the vehicle positively matched vehicle parts left at the crime scene.

Dilley is scheduled to face a preliminary hearing Jan. 10 in Coraopolis District Court. 


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