Published: September 24, 2009 11:13 pm      

Cambria court administrator struck in pedestrian accident

EBENSBURG — The longtime court administrator for Cambria County was rushed to a hospital after he was injured in a vehicle-pedestrian accident as he was leaving the Cambria County Courthouse late Thursday afternoon.

Donald J. Scotilla, an Ebensburg resident, was taken by medical helicopter to Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown. No information on his condition was being released at the request of his family, the hospital said.

Cambria County President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said from what information he could gather, Scotilla began to cross South Center Street in front of the courthouse.

He was blinded by a parked vehicle and stepped into the street, where he was struck, he said.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” he said. “We’re hoping for the best.

“All of our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. He’s a good administrator and it’s our hope that he will continue in that capacity as soon as possible.”

Cambria County Judge Timothy Creany said Scotilla has been court administrator since the early 1990s.

“He’s a nice man,” he said. “He’s an efficient administrator. He takes his job seriously and continues to grow in it.

“We’re going to miss him while he recovers.”

Scotilla is a former principal and assistant principal at Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg.

Before becoming principal at the school, he served as the school’s head football coach and a basketball and golf coach.

He also was a football coach for the United States Army while serving with the Army in Germany in the late 1950s.

A 1951 graduate of the former Ebensburg-Cambria High School, he earned a scholarship to play football at the University of Michigan.