Mt. Pleasant woman guilty for drunken crash that injured pedestrians
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A Mt. Pleasant woman was convicted Friday for her role in a drunken-driving crash more than four years ago that injured two pedestrians.
Elizabeth M. Sirianni could serve at least one year in prison as a result of the verdicts rendered by a Westmoreland County jury following a three-day trial. Prosecutors claimed she was drunk July 3, 2020, when her SUV veered off Route 31 in Mt. Pleasant Township.
Sirianni, who turns 35 on Saturday, worked a shift at a local restaurant then drank at two bars before the crash, police said.
Her blood-alcohol level was 0.229%, nearly three times the limit motorists are deemed intoxicated under Pennsylvania law. After about two hours of deliberations, jurors found Sirianni guilty of aggravated assault while driving drunk and two charges of DUI.
Prosecutors said 23-year-old Vincent Polito of Mt. Pleasant suffered leg and rib fractures, as well as head and brain injuries that resulted in strokes and seizures, confining him to a nursing home since the crash. Lawrence Grimes, 40, of Armstrong County, sustained a minor arm injury.
Witnesses said Polito, Grimes and a woman were walking along the berm of the road after visiting a local convenience store just after 2:30 a.m. when Polito and Grimes were hit by Sirianni’s vehicle.
“Ms. Sirianni knew that section of roadway,” Assistant District Attorney Theresa Miller-Sporrer said in her closing argument to the jury. “If you drive while under the influence of alcohol, you will be held criminally liable.”
She argued that evidence, including debris related to the crash as well as blood on the road and testimony from two of the pedestrians, proved Sirianni was unable to safely drive her vehicle and caused the crash.
Sirianni did not testify.
Defense attorney Brian Aston argued other factors — such as a dark roadway and testimony from at least one witness who suggested at least one pedestrian was walking in the center of the road while two others straddled the fog line near the berm — contributed to the crash.
Aston claimed Sirianni was an experienced drinker who may not have felt the full affect of her alcohol consumption and criticized what he called an incomplete police investigation that didn’t reveal whether the victims wore dark clothing or his client had been distracted by objects on the road or by her cellphone.
Evidence revealed Sirianni’s vehicle came to a stop along the fog line, about 50 feet from where she hit the pedestrians. A state police collision expert testified Sirianni’s vehicle was traveling about 35 mph, within the speed limit, at the time of the crash.
“Sometimes accidents are just accidents. People are always looking to blame people, and sometimes bad things happen to people,” Aston told jurors.
Sirianni will be sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears in about three months. She will remain free on bond until her sentencing hearing.
Sirianni was charged with drunken driving twice in 2019. Both of those cases are pending, according to court records.