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Victim's Mother Questions Police Procedures In North Braddock Fatal Crash

NORTH BRADDOCK (KDKA) -- A young man appeared to die by his own hand, behind the wheel of pickup truck on a deserted street.

However, now, it appears that someone else was driving and left the scene before police arrived. Now, the police actions in a local community are being questioned and a suspect is still on the loose.

Early Sunday morning, a red pickup truck careened off the pole outside the Edgar Thomson Works in North Braddock and into a parked car. Dead at the scene was 26-year-old Jeremie Leverett.

Upon hearing the awful news, Valerie Leverett, the victim's mother, drove up from Georgia to bury her son and ask unanswered questions.

"I came home for the truth," she said.

Valerie believes that her son was not driving the car, that someone else left the scene and left him there to die.

But the North Braddock Police conducted no investigation, and sources say did not even write a report on the accident. Now it appears that the person driving is still on the loose.

"Jeremie didn't have a license," said Valerie. "Jeremie was not driving the car. No way."

According to sources close to the investigation, the officer on the scene assumed Leverett was the driver of the pickup and its sole occupant.

Seeing no need for an investigation, he had the body taken to the morgue and the pickup towed. He did not contact Allegheny County Police according to procedure and the crime scene was destroyed.

Alerted by others, Allegheny County Police took over the investigation Monday, and acting on a search warrant, found the pickup was not registered to Leverett.

After further investigation, they found that Leverett and the suspected driver had been in an after-hour club just prior to the crash.

They now in talks with an attorney to have the driver turn himself in and face potential charges of vehicular homicide, failure to render aid and leaving the scene of an accident.

"He wasn't there. He left him there. My son laid the middle of the street there," said the victim's mother.

Valerie has a message for the driver.

"Just turn yourself in. Man up," she said. "I'm truly satisfied it was an accident, but it was fatal for me and my family."

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