William Soliday II was likely almost on top of the Serra Catholic school van by the time he stepped on the brakes of his Volkswagen Jetta.
At 106 mph a half-second before impact, the brakes did little to slow the white sedan as it smashed into the Ford transit van. Allegheny County Police say the Jetta was still traveling at 90 mph at the time of impact.
The force of that impact lifted the school van from the ground, spun it, and tossed it onto its side. Three of the four kids on their way to school were thrown outside, including 15-year-old Samantha Lee Kalkbrenner.
While Mr. Soliday tried in vain to apply his brakes, investigators said Andrew Voigt didn’t hit his at all. Instead, they allege, he kept driving when he saw his coworker’s Jetta smash into the van.
Samantha was killed in the Sept. 20 crash that rocked the McKeesport community and the close-knit Serra Catholic High School. Three of her classmates and the van’s driver were severely injured in the fiery crash.
Mr. Soliday, 43, is charged with homicide, homicide by vehicle, and multiple counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. Mr. Voigt, 55, is charged with accidents involving death or injury.
Both men are also charged with a summary offense of racing on highways.
Investigators and the District Attorney’s Office decided to move forward with homicide charges against Mr. Soliday because of the sheer violence and senselessness of the crash.
“Driving is a privilege,” said DA Stephen A. Zappala Jr. “You do stuff like this, you are a murderer — you turned that vehicle into a deadly weapon.”
The crash happened shortly before 7:30 a.m., not long after Samantha was picked up from her Dravosburg home.
Onboard cameras inside and outside the school van captured the moments leading up to the crash and the crash itself, according to the criminal complaints filed against the men.
Footage showed the van driver pull up to the intersection of Richland Avenue and Third Street about 7:22 a.m. The onboard camera showed him checking in both directions multiple times before he pulled into the intersection to turn left about 30 seconds later.
Right as the van began to make its turn, the Jetta slammed into its driver’s side.
Footage from a passing Tesla also captured the crash, police said. The impact lifted the van into the air and spun it 180 degrees, according to the complaint, and it ultimately landed on its side in a field across from Third Street.
Mr. Zappala said the footage is graphic and violent.
According to the complaint, footage from the Tesla showed one boy was thrown from the van and onto the flaming hood of the Volkswagen. Another student is shown being thrown through the rear window and into the grass, just clear of the rolling van. Samantha, too, can be seen being thrown from the van, police said.
The Tesla’s camera also captured a dark-colored Jeep passing through the intersection without stopping.
Multiple witnesses driving on the Mansfield Bridge and on Richland Avenue told investigators that both the Volkswagen and the Jeep flew past them just prior to the crash, and at least three said the two vehicles appeared to be either racing or chasing each other, according to the complaint.
“They blew past me like I was standing still,” one man told police.
Investigators used license plate readers in the area to link the Volkswagen to Mr. Voigt. Both men work at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, a nuclear research facility in West Mifflin, though county police Assistant Superintendent Vic Joseph decline to discuss the men’s relationship.
“We realize it’s taken three months,” he said. “It’s a complex, complicated investigation. We’re talking about speed, distance, time calculations — that kind of data.”
Indeed, investigators dissected the information collected from the Volkswagen’s electronic data recorder, which is akin to an airplane’s “black box.”
According to the complaint, the Jetta was traveling at 104 mph at 100% throttle 3.5 seconds before the crash. Two seconds before the crash impact, it was still at full throttle and traveling 107 mph. At 1.5 seconds before the crash, the Jetta driver had taken his foot from the gas, as the throttle dropped to 0%. The sedan, though, was still traveling about 106 mph.
A half second before the impact, Mr. Soliday hit the brakes for the first time, investigators wrote in the complaint. The brakes only slowed the car to 90 mph before the struck the Ford transit van.
Mr. Zappala said there were no skid marks or other signs of braking, and there were no obstructions blocking the view of the road ahead for at least 600 feet leading up to the crash point.
A witness’s dashboard camera captured the Jeep driving onto the Mansfield Bridge about two seconds behind the Jetta, according to the complaint. A different dash cam showed the Jeep passing the crash scene about two seconds after the impact.
Investigators determined that for the Jeep to remain two seconds behind the Jetta that whole time, it had to have been traveling just as fast as the Jetta, according to the complaint.
In an interview with detectives, Mr. Voigt allegedly denied knowing Mr. Soliday. He said he’d been driving across the Mansfield Bridge and there was a white Volkswagen going “pretty fast” ahead of him but alleged there was “a good amount of distance” between his Jeep and the Jetta.
He was speeding, he said, but not “flying.”
Mr. Voigt told investigators that he saw the crash and believed he’d just witnessed the Jetta driver die. According to the complaint, Mr. Voigt said he panicked and made the first turn he could find off of Richland Avenue. He vomited on himself and considered calling 911 but didn’t. Instead, he said, he drove home, parked the Jeep, changed his clothes, and took his Audi to work instead.
Police said Mr. Voigt told them he didn’t report the crash because there were other cars on the road and someone else had probably already called 911.
Mr. Zappala said the Jetta exploded upon impact and children were thrown from the van. He said Mr. Voigt drove right past the carnage.
“Dozens of people stopped their vehicles and jumped out and tried to render aid to these kids,” he said. “I mean, this guy just kept on going. That’s cold. Good luck with that with a jury.”
Both men remained in the Allegheny County Jail on Thursday — Mr. Voigt was unable to post $150,000 bail and Mr. Soliday was denied bail based on the homicide charges against him.
A preliminary hearing for Mr. Voigt is scheduled for Dec. 21, and Mr. Soliday’s is set for Dec. 22.
First Published: December 14, 2023, 9:42 p.m.
Updated: December 16, 2023, 4:31 p.m.
