David Puchala Of NJ Killed In Crash on Rt 22 In PA: Police

A 27-year-old man originally from Wallington, New Jersey, was killed when his car flew off Route 22 at over 100 mph and struck multiple trees, Pennsylvania State Police said.

David Puchala

David Puchala, of Youngstown, Ohio, was ejected from his car and died in the violent crash around 2:55 a.m. Saturday, June 15, along Route 22 East in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, state police announced.

Puchala had been speeding in his Subaru Impreza—traveling over 100 mph in the left lane—when he swerved to avoid a car bumper lying in the roadway near mile marker 330.9, about a mile west of Route 191, according to the Bethlehem barracks.

He lost control and veered across lanes before launching off the right shoulder into an embankment. The car went airborne, tore through a chain link fence, and struck a tree head-on, investigators said.

The car continued rotating in the air, hit a second tree rear-first, and threw Puchala from the vehicle, authorities detailed. He landed on the left shoulder of the highway while his car landed on the opposite shoulder, facing south.

Emergency crews from Bethlehem Township EMS arrived at 3:03 a.m. and rushed Puchala to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, troopers said.

Puchala recently lived in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, but was a Wallington, New Jersey, native , according to public records and social media. He was a graduate of Wallington High School and studied at Warren County Community College. He had been employed as a big rig operator at CHP Trans Inc.

Additional details about his life were not immediately available. His family is invited to share more details with Daily Voice by emailing [email protected].