Crash victims’ family reflects on help received this year (2024)

The gift of recovery

A local mother considers the lives of her children to be her greatest Christmas present.

On the night of Friday, May 13, Pam Surano’s three children and a friend were involved in a fiery two-vehicle crash on Evans City Road in Forward Township. Rescued by local track coaches who happened upon the scene, the children are now on the road to recovery.

“We have been given an enormous gift this Christmas,” Surano, a former KDKA reporter, wrote on Facebook on Dec. 13. “It has taken some time to share this, as it’s been a very difficult time.”

Surano said in an email Thursday, Dec. 22, that there’s no way to put into words how grateful her family is for the work done by the people on scene that night.

“We are so grateful their lives were spared by the grace of God and the actions of the amazing coaches and EMS,” she said.

The crash

According to police, Surano’s son Michael Maloney, 19, was driving a white SUV around 9:45 p.m May 13 when he crashed into a red SUV which was attempting to turn left.

The white SUV plummeted into a ravine and overturned with Michael, his brother James Maloney, 20, his sister Mary Maloney, 15, and their friend Anthony Recker, 18, still inside.

The red SUV remained on the road, with the driver trapped inside. In the ravine, the white SUV caught fire.

Michael and James were able to free themselves from the vehicle, but could not get to Anthony or Mary, whose legs are paralyzed.

Mary had suffered an injury after falling from a trampoline at age 13. Both the injury and her recovery have been widely publicized.

Help came quickly in the form of Steve Tinker, head coach of the Avonworth Middle School track team. As he and his team were traveling by bus from the Butler Invitational Track Meet, the bus driver saw the white SUV’s headlights disappear from the road.

“My bus missed the accident by no more than 10 or 15 seconds,” Tinker said. “We started to see debris on the road — car parts. I looked over to the left, and I saw the other car sitting on the road with damage.”

The bus stopped, and Tinker exited. When he saw flames coming from the white SUV below, he asked his assistant coach Ryan Ott to keep the athletes in the bus and gather fire extinguishers from other buses that were now stopping along the road.

Tinker made his way down the ravine to Michael and James, who said their sister was still inside.

As Tinker repeatedly failed to open the SUV’s door and reach Mary simultaneously, he said he began to panic. Tinker said although everyone else was panicking, Mary gave everyone a breath of calm.

“I still can’t get over how calm she was,” Tinker said in an earlier interview. “Mary was actually keeping me calm. She kept saying, ‘We’re OK. We’re OK. Everything is fine.’”

After minutes of trying to get to Mary, Tinker was losing the battle. He said the brush kept slamming the door shut as he tried to get into the vehicle.

Tinker said at the exact moment he decided to go up the hill for additional help, Daniel Dickey, Seneca Valley Middle School track coach, finished his descent into the ravine.

“(Tinker) was pushing on the door but couldn’t reach in and grab (Mary). When I got there, he said ‘I’ll do this and you reach in,’” Dickey said in a Friday interview. “I was able to lift her out.”

Dickey said Mary’s legs were hurt in the accident, and she was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital.

Dickey said he held Mary until she was in the hands of emergency medical personnel.

“I couldn’t set her down anywhere; I held onto her while (Tinker) went up to get fire extinguishers,” he said.

Mary remained calm throughout the experience, he added.

“She kept her head through the whole thing. It helped me out,” he said.

Once he saw EMTs rushing down the hill, Dickey handed Mary over to them. Dickey said at the time, he was in shock, but he later felt a great appreciation for the emergency responders who took over.

Dickey said being one of the first on scene made him want to help the Maloneys.

“I just figured, ‘No one else is around. Someone’s got to help,’” he said. “If positions were reversed, if someone saw me, I hope they’d stop.”

Aid also was rendered for Recker, who was still in the vehicle.

A team of firefighters set to work on the ravine, using ropes to pull up patients. Another team worked on the fire, knocking it down quickly, while a third team went to work on the red SUV sitting on the road. Firefighters tore off the driver’s side door and removed Michelle Alexander, 42, of Monaca, who was taken by ambulance for a suspected minor injury.

After the crash

“Frequently these last few months I’ve had no words at all, and then other times, no words were enough,” Surano wrote in a Facebook post. “Four young people are now on the road to healing, with a profound appreciation for life.”

She said seven months after the crash, her children are recovering.

“Everyone is doing well, and we expect, with God, amazing things for all the kids,” she said. “We will never forget why that’s possible. Selfless love rescued them that night, and God at work in the hands and feet of (Tinker) and (Dickey).”

Surano said she sees Tinker and Dickey’s presence at the crash, at that moment in time, as divine intervention.

“They were sent there undoubtedly through the intercession of angels,” she said. “The account and timing of that night and the varied reasons why they should not have been at that place at that moment are undeniably, divine in nature.”

Dickey said he connected with Tinker and Surano after the incident to debrief and continue to have conversations.

“I just had a son, and they congratulated me. It keeps the community connected, I guess,” he said.

In a Facebook post Dec. 13, Surano thanked the crews that responded to the accident, including Evans City Volunteer Fire Department, Connoquenessing and Callery volunteer fire companies, Harmony and Butler EMS and the LifeFlight crews.

She further commended Dickey and Tinker, as they received Hometown Heroes awards later for their efforts in helping Mary.

The coaches will forever be in her family’s life, Surano added.

“We can never repay them, but we will try with love, connection and living life as they do, helping others we meet,” she said.

As far as how the crash affected Mary’s recovery, Surano said she is certain of healing.

“I just repeat the words God placed on (Mary’s) heart in 2020 after her trampoline accident when He told her He would heal her. After what we witnessed that night, a true miracle, we believe those words more than ever before. It’s been a miracle in many lives, and will continue to be,” she said.

Dickey said the experience made him appreciate his first aid training.

“The information is important, but doesn’t have an impact until you get to experience that. I’m thankful for it,” he said. “I felt appreciative to help in that sort of capacity. I was happy to get involved.”

“We will never forget what was done that night and what could have been, every day we are reminded, but mostly reminded of the gift of love and service to others. This is something we will continue to pay forward,” Surano said.