Charges filed in 2023 fatal Gold Star Highway crash
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A crashed Honda is seen on the Gold Star Highway on July 31, 2023.
SHENANDOAH – A Girardville man is facing homicide by vehicle charges for the 2023 Gold Star crash that killed Jenna Sallade.
Zackary Tyler Kluchinsky, 19, of West Main Street, was charged Wednesday by State Police.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Shenandoah by Trooper Sean Elenchin, the crash happened July 31, 2023 around 4:30am on the Gold Star Highway between Shenandoah and Gilberton.
A 1998 Honda Civic, owned by Kluchinsky’s mother, had crashed, ejecting four occupants. Sallade died at the scene. Jeffrey Livergood, Logan Payne, and Kluchinsky were all injured and flown to area trauma centers.
Kluchinsky was identified as the driver of the car. Police said he lost control, slid across the highway and struck an embankment and two trees before the car rolled.
RIGHT – KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – A memorial cross is posted along the Gold Star Highway near where Sallade was killed in a vehicle accident, seen on August 2, 2023.
Troopers interviewed two witnesses who said the car had been speeding along the Gold Star. Sallade’s mother said the Life360 app showed the car traveling at 77mph at the time of the crash.
A toxicology report, police said, noted that Kluchinsky had a BAC of .029% after the crash.
Payne and Kluchinsky both told police they did not remember who was driving. A crash reconstruction determined where the occupants were at the time of the crash.
Kluchinsky was arraigned Wednesday on homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, and DUI charges, among others, and committed to Schuylkill County Prison on $100,000 bail.
He was released later Wednesday when a Milton bail bondsman posted his bail.
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