Passenger who died in Parkway East crash had overdosed, medical examiner says

A Latrobe man killed last month in a car crash on the Parkway East died from a drug overdose, officials said.

Michael Zappone, 47, died just after 11 p.m. Sept. 4 from the combined effects of fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl and ethanol, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office announced last week. They deemed his death an accident.

Zappone was sitting in the passenger seat of an SUV being driven by David A. Whitlatch, 32, of Waynesburg when the vehicle left the Parkway East at a high rate of speed and hit an embankment in Wilkinsburg, state police Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said.

The SUV was seen just after 9:30 p.m. sitting on the left shoulder of the Parkway East on-ramp from Route 30, state police said. A witness told police the SUV accelerated suddenly, crossed the road and hit the embankment before flipping onto its roof.

When state police arrived, first responders were performing CPR on both Zappone and Whitlach, Gagliardi said. Both men were “revived on scene,” he added.

The incident is listed in police records as a “DUI fatal,” Gagliardi said.

“That tells me the driver was under suspicion of being under the influence,” he said.

Results of toxicology tests are pending.

No charges had been filed against Whitlach as of Tuesday afternoon, Gagliardi said. The matter of whether to prosecute was forwarded to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

The DA’s office was not immediately available for comment.

Zappone was taken on the night of the crash to AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville where he died, the medical examiner’s office said. Whitlatch was taken to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland for treatment of serious injuries.

No update on Whitlach’s condition or injuries was available Tuesday afternoon.