Pittsburgh police issue charges in hit-and-run that killed 66-year-old pedestrian
Pittsburgh police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday in connection with an April 11 hit-and-run that killed a Pittsburgh pedestrian.
Joseph Betha, 54, of Wilkinsburg has been charged with homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death, accidents involving death while not property licensed, and involuntary manslaughter, police spokesperson Cara Cruz said.
It was unclear if Betha was in custody Tuesday.
Police found the vehicle believed to be involved in the hit-and-run, a green minivan with possible front-end damage, on April 12, Cruz said.
Freeman M. Holeman, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:10 p.m. April 11, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said. A vehicle struck Holeman in the 7300 block of Penn Avenue, near Carnegie Place, in Point Breeze around 10 p.m. that night.
Holeman’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma of the head, neck, torso and extremities, the medical examiner said. The manner of death was deemed an accident.
Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.
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