A search warrant was issued Thursday on the vehicle involved in the July 3 fatal accident along Benner Pike to help police determine the seating position of the two people involved.
The woman who died in the crash, Susan Bartley, 43, of Milesburg, who was a passenger in the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene, while David Bartley, 49, of Milesburg, who was also in the vehicle was transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center for injuries he sustained in the accident.
The 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee they were traveling in was going along the 1000 block of Benner Pike heading toward State College when the vehicle left the road and sideswiped a telephone pole on the passenger side at about 1:30 p.m. near the Tractor Supply Company.
State College Police served the warrant to locate blood, hair and tissue from the vehicle so they can compare it to the DNA of the two people in the car to determine where each of them were sitting, according to a search warrant. Police are doing this to determine who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
One witness of the crash told police he or she saw David Bartley operating the vehicle at the time of the crash, according to a search warrant. The witness also told police that after the accident the male walked from the driver’s side of the vehicle to the passenger side door to pull Susan Bartley from the vehicle, according to a search warrant.
When interviewed by police David Bartley denied being the driver of the vehicle, according to a search warrant.
Police are also trying to collect receipts dated directly before the accident that could potentially identify locations having video surveillance on various stops before the crash, according to a search warrant. After the accident, David Bartley told police that he and Susan Bartley stopped at the PNC Bank in Bellefonte and the Sheetz on the Benner Pike before the accident, according to a search warrant.
State College Police Lt. Keith Robb said that they have witnesses saying he was the driver, now police are looking to confirm it with the physical evidence from the car that the warrant will provide.
Robb said that police are currently awaiting toxicology reports, which may take a couple weeks to come through.
Police are asking that anyone who may have witnessed the incident contact State College Police at 814-234-7150.
