Lawton man, 3-year-old daughter killed in crash

BY STEVE MCCONNELL and DENIS J. O’MALLEY

Times-Shamrock Writers

Horrific.

That’s how Nicholson Fire Chief Richard Lochen described the scene of a head-on crash Wednesday morning that killed aSusquehannaCountyman and his 3-year-old daughter.

“It’s not something you expect to see,” Chief Lochen said of the wreck.

Jeffrey Pifcho, 25, ofLawton, was driving a 1994 Chevrolet Silverado in Nicholson Twp. when he crossed the double-yellow center line and struck a 2000 Dodge 2500 driven by Loren Lee Welch of Springville, state police said.

Wyoming County Coroner Thomas Kukuchka said Mr. Pifcho’s daughter, Kylie Anne, was in the front-passenger seat and was not wearing a seat belt or placed in a child-safety seat.

Mr. Pifcho was wearing a seat belt, state police said. He and his daughter were not ejected from the vehicle in the10:11 a.m.crash, Mr. Kukuchka said.

Mr. Pifcho and his daughter died due to “massive traumatic” injuries as a result of the impact and were pronounced dead at the scene onWest Nicholson Road, Mr. Kukuchka said.

Mr. Welch was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center for treatment of moderate injuries and later released, troopers and hospital spokeswoman Wendy Wilson said.

Troopers are investigating the crash and had no additional information late Wednesday night.

Glass and debris were strewn over the state road, which meanders through a sparsely populated area dotted with farmland and homes, Chief Lochen said. The posted speed limit is 30 mph, he added.

Efforts to reach Mr. Pifcho’s family and friends were unsuccessful Wednesday night.

There will be no autopsies, Mr. Kukuchka said, adding that there is no indication Mr. Pifcho was under the influence of alcohol, although toxicology results are pending. It could take 10 to 14 days for those results to come back, he said.

“I can’t think of anything like it in recent memory,” said Mr. Kukuchka, who has been coroner since 1974.