PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Testimony began today in the trial of 20-year-old Ryan Safka who is charged with vehicular homicide in the deaths of three Upper St. Clair teens two years ago.

The car he was driving plunged over a hillside off the Parkway West toward Banksville Road in February of 2010 killing Tara Schultz, Derrick Phillips and David Rizzo.

On the stand Monday, Pennsylvania State Trooper Mark Kern testified the car reached speeds of 106 miles an hour before plunging over a guard rail at 67 miles an hour.

But defense attorney Dan Hargrove argued that weather and conditions and vehicle mechanics were factors in the crash and that the data the prosecution relied on is skewed.

Testimony resumes Tuesday in a non-jury trial before Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning.

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