By Chris Ramirez
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — A Bethel Park roofing contractor was run over and killed in a neighbor’s front yard after a fight with a man who was seeing his wife, police said Sunday.
Neighbors tried to lift the 2002 Buick Regal off John J. Pavlick, 49, before paramedics arrived at the quiet cul-de-sac early yesterday. But their jacks sank in the rain-soaked ground under the vehicle’s weight. Pavlick was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jason Kasper, 35, of Bethel Park was charged with homicide and homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.
“This is a quiet neighborhood,” Bethel Park police Chief John Mackey said. “Things like this typically don’t happen here.”
Pavlick owned Pavlick Roofing and Contracting, a business his father, John B. Pavlick, founded in Bethel Park in 1959. The elder Pavlick retired in 1988, and his son purchased the business that year, according to its Web site.
Tire marks stretching about 20 feet were carved into the grass two doors down from the tan two-story home on Grey Fox Circle that Pavlick shared with his wife, Tracy. Tracy Pavlick filed for divorce from her husband of eight years in July 2008, Allegheny County court records show. She told police the couple had been trying to reconcile and that the two had been under the same roof for the past two months.
During their separation, Tracy Pavlick said she had been seeing Kasper, according to a criminal compliant detailing the charges against him.
The document said the Pavlicks had gone to a Halloween party at Ann’s Restaurant on South Park Road. John Pavlick left briefly to go to another bar. While he was gone, Kasper spoke with Tracy Pavlick, who told him she and her husband were going to another party and suggested Kasper meet them there.
According to the complaint:
At the second party, Kasper began “lingering around” and made Tracy Pavlick uncomfortable, so the couple went home. At the house, the two talked about Kasper being at the restaurant, and John Pavlick said he wouldn’t be surprised if Kasper showed up at their home. Moments later, Kasper showed up unannounced and spoke outside with Tracy Pavlick. She told him to go away, but Kasper demanded to know whether she planned to leave her husband. He said he would not leave until she told him whether she was leaving her husband.
John Pavlick came out, and he and Kasper wrestled on the lawn. Kasper got free and went back to his car, which was parked in front of the home. She said he backed up while turning onto the lawn toward John Pavlick.
Tracy Pavlick told police her husband kicked the car door, then jumped on the hood as the vehicle pulled off the lawn. She ran into the house and called 911.
Just then, Kasper entered the home and said her husband was under the car.
“It was his fault. He jumped onto the hood of my car,” she recalled Kasper saying.
Kasper was taken into custody, and Tracy Pavlick was questioned by investigators for several hours.
Kasper told police he drove forward and his foot got stuck sideways under the brake pedal and on the gas pedal, the complaint said. When he applied the brake, John Pavlick fell off the front of the car and the vehicle slid over him, Kasper told authorities.
According to court records, Kasper pleaded guilty to drunken driving twice, in 1997 and 1998. He pleaded guilty to four criminal charges in 1995, including drug possession and corruption of minors.
Kasper was sentenced to two days to two years in jail for the 1997 DUI and to 30 days to one year in jail for his second DUI. Court records don’t indicate how much time Kasper actually served for the convictions.
Tracy and John Pavlick were married Jan. 17, 2000, in the U.S. Virgin Islands and separated in May 2008.
The divorce complaint states only that the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and that Tracy Pavlick was seeking alimony.
Copyright 2009 Tribune Review Publishing Company