Velva, named partly because her hair as a baby looked like velvet, had packed her laptop and some clothes for an overnight stay. Just as the pickup and a red Port Authority bus heading in the opposite direction passed each other, Velva Perry heard a terrible sound. She has Alzheimer’s, and Velva was going to care for her. Tyrone and Velva were traveling to the city’s New Homestead neighborhood, tucked just below an oxbow bend in the Monongahela River. Survivors all, they now share a terrifying experience that stunned a city, drew the attention of a nation’s president and immediately became etched into Pittsburgh history. Strangers to each other, the victims - among them a set of grandparents, a dentist, a bus driver and a recent college graduate - miraculously emerged from the woods. Its abrupt failure dumped a half-dozen vehicles into a wooded gorge 100 feet below and transformed a pastoral scene into a rubble-strewn landscape. 28, 2022, minutes away from one of the worst infrastructure disasters in Pittsburgh history - the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge. Down Oberlin Street, over to Frankstown Road and then to Braddock Avenue before turning on Forbes Avenue toward Downtown. Stereo humming, the truck wound through Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, Homewood and Point Breeze. She took pains to color coordinate, right down to her black duffel bag. Tyrone’s wife, Velva, sat beside him dressed in black from head to toe. ![]() ![]() Outside, the temperature hovered in the upper 20s. Tyrone was partial to the smooth vibes of musicians like Isaac Hayes and the Isley Brothers. ![]() Flecks of light snow speckled the air as music from an R&B CD drifted through the Ford F-150’s speakers. Tyrone Perry eased his pickup through the empty streets of Pittsburgh’s East End, headlights cutting through the predawn darkness.
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