Vaskar Tamang was on his way to work on the early afternoon of May 19.
Tamang was riding his motorcycle, something his cousin, Bhaskar Pyakurel, said Tamang loved to do, as he cruised along Erie’s east side on his way to his job at Walmart.
An accident would soon change the trajectory of the 25-year-old’s life.
Tamang was traveling along East 28th Street that afternoon when, according to Erie Bureau of Police accident investigators, a pickup truck traveling along Perry Street failed to properly stop at a stop sign and collided with Tamang’s motorcycle.
Tamang would spend the rest of his life in the hospital.
He died in Pittsburgh on Dec. 2, according to his family.
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As police and prosecutors review the accident following Tamang’s death and the man accused of causing the crash awaits trial on charges filed against him in early June, Tamang’s family members say they are awaiting justice.
They are also seeking help in paying Tamang’s medical costs and funeral expenses while grieving the loss of a loved one remembered as so friendly and helpful, Pyakurel said.
“He didn’t fight, he didn’t argue, never in his life. All of his friends admired him,” he said.
A tragic ending
Tamang died of complications of cranioplasty due to traumatic brain injury from a hit-and-run, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office reported on Friday in response to an Erie Times-News inquiry. A cranioplasty is the surgical repair of a bone defect in the skull resulting from a previous operation or injury, according to information on the Johns Hopkins Medicine website.
The Medical Examiner’s Office listed the manner of Tamang’s death as undetermined.
Erie police reported after the accident that Tamang had suffered serious injuries, including several fractures, orbital fracture, subdural hemorrhage, pancreatic injury, and traumatic cardiac arrest in the crash. He was taken from the accident scene to UPMC Hamot and then flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, investigators reported.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the Erie police investigation into the accident and is awaiting information from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, Assistant District Attorney Greg Reichart said late last week.
Erie police accused the driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident of causing the crash and charged him in early June. The case against the accused driver, 38-year-old Erie resident Justin M. Richards, is scheduled for trial in January, according to online court docket information.
Hit-and-run crash at an east Erie intersection
The accident happened on May 19 at about 2 p.m. at the intersection of East 28th and Perry streets.
According to Erie police, a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado with an Ohio registration was traveling south on Perry Street when it failed to clear the intersection at a stop sign and did not yield to a motorcycle traveling east on East 28th Street. The Silverado entered the intersection, causing a collision with the motorcycle, investigators wrote in the criminal complaint filed against Richards.
Investigators wrote that the driver of the Silverado initially stopped, then fled the scene before providing any information or rendering aid.
Richards was identified as the driver of the Silverado based on information police received at the crash scene, said Cpl. John Stephens, an accident investigator with the Erie Bureau of Police. Officers located Richards at his listed Erie address, and he was taken to Saint Vincent Hospital for a blood draw, Stephens wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with Richards’ criminal complaint.
The affidavit did not list the results of the blood draw. But Stephens said last week that testing found levels of THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, in Richards’ system.
Investigators wrote in the affidavit that police learned through checking Richards’ driving record that he had a driving under the influence-related suspension and was driving the truck at the time of the crash while not properly licensed.
Stephens on June 6 charged Richards with third-degree felony counts of accidents involving death or personal injury while not licensed and accidents involving death or personal injury; misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property; and summary counts of driving under suspension, failure to stop at a stop sign, driving without insurance, and failure to stop and give information and render aid.
The latter three summary charges were withdrawn at Richards’ preliminary hearing on Sept. 7, when he waived the remaining five charges to court.
Richards remains free after posting his $5,000 bond in late June, according to online court records.
Grieving a loss
Vaskar Tamang came to Erie from Nepal as a refugee in 2015. He later became a U.S. citizen, Pyakurel said.
Married a year ago, Tamang lived among family in Erie and enjoyed cooking, singing, and playing the guitar, his cousin said.
“Even now, we are grieving,” Pyakurel said. “In our culture, we observe (the death) for 14 days. On Dec. 17, we are having ceremonies to say our final goodbye to him.”
Pyakurel said the truck’s driver did not have insurance, and Tamang’s insurance does not compensate the family for his loss. Members of Tamang’s family created a GoFundMe account following his death to help raise funds to offset medical and funeral costs. More than $9,000 of the fund’s $20,000 goal had been raised as of Friday.
After Tamang’s death, family members donated his organs. They are comforted in knowing that, through the donation, their loved one has helped to save the lives of four people, Pyakurel said.
“A hero up till the very end,” a line in the GoFundMe post reads.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
