Edward Mackiw

Trooper Edward Mackiw, a Pennsylvania State Police Officer, was killed by a speeding motorist while directing traffic around a car accident on the Parkway West near Carnegie on May 31, 1958.

Witnesses reported that a speeding vehicle driven by George R. Currin of Wilkinsburg was passing the scene of the accident late that Memorial Day night when Mackiw was struck.

Currin, who denied that he was speeding or that he saw the roadside flares that had been set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on February 10, 1961, nearly three years after the incident. The jury’s recommendation of mercy was accepted by the judge, who sentenced Currin to three years of probation.

Author: Bill Lofquist

I am a sociologist and death penalty scholar at the State University of New York at Geneseo. I am also a Pittsburgh native. My present research focuses on the history of the death penalty in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pa. This website is dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and sharing information about all Allegheny County cases in which a death sentence was imposed. Please share any questions or comments, errors or omissions, or other matters of interest related to these cases or to the broader history of the death penalty in Allegheny County. View all posts by Bill Lofquist