Cops: Stoned couple with kids in tow crash truck into three cars
UPPER DARBY » A Garnet Valley man and a Clifton Heights woman, both allegedly high and in possession of drugs and paraphernalia, were traveling with her two young daughters when he crashed a truck she rented into three cars parked on Clearbrook Avenue during evening rush hour Tuesday, police said.
“They claimed they had gone to Naylor’s Run Park with the kids, how they made it across Garrett Road at 5:15 p.m. without killing somebody or getting involved in a more serious accident is beyond me,” Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said in announcing the arrests of 24-year-old Sean Rehmann and 34-year-old Laura Popielarski.
“And to in harm’s put the children way like that is unconscionable. And for what? To get high?” Chitwood said.
Though Popielarski refused treatment for herself and her daughters, ages 8 months and 4, Chitwood said Police Capt. Thomas Johnson ordered that they be taken to the hospital for evaluation.
“He saw the condition she was in,” Chitwood said of Popielarski, adding she admitted to sometimes using heroin but on this day had used crystal methamphetamine.
“The little one had numerous lacerations behind the back of her legs,” but no other injuries were reported, Chitwood said. Children and Youth Services of Delaware County subsequently gave temporary custody of Popielarski’s two children to friends, he said.
Johnson was on his way home and had just turned onto the 300 block of Clearbrook Avenue when he happened upon the aftermath of the crash. He described a chaotic scene with “a car on a lawn, and glass all over the place.”
Rehmann, who was driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI, initially denied he was the driver of the striking black 2007 Nissan Titan truck, “but then he admitted it,” Chitwood said.
According to Chitwood, when Johnson reached the truck, the two children had already been removed from the vehicle. Johnson said remnants of an ice cream smoothie were all over the inside of the truck.
The three vehicles struck by the truck – a Nissan station wagon, a Honda sedan and a GMC station wagon – were totaled.
Since he was the driver, police attempted to perform field-sobriety tests on Rehmann.
“It was immediately obvious that both adult individuals from the truck were grossly under the influence of something,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Rehmann was concerned about finding a dog he said had been in the truck, though the whereabouts of the dog were unknown.
Police reportedly recovered crystal methamphetamine, suboxone strips and clonazepam from Popielarski’s handbag, a glass marijuana pipe and a jar contained what appeared to be marijuana residue from Rehmann’s pants pocket. Medication prescribed for Rehmann’s depression and anxiety were found in a backpack in the cab of the truck.
Rehmann, of the 1100 block of Red Oak Drive in Garnet Valley, and Popielarski, of the 200 block of Cambridge Road in Clifton Heights, are both charged with endangering the welfare of children and endangerment.
Rehmann is additionally charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance; DUI involving a second offense with a blood alcohol level of .02 or greater; possession of a small amount of marijuana, use or possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license.
Popielarski is additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession or use of drug paraphernalia, misbranding packaging and public drunkenness. reckless
Rehmann and Popielarski are being held at the county prison in lieu of bail, which was set at 10 percent of $15,000 for each. Both are listed to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 4 before Magisterial District Judge Ann Berardocco.
Johnson noted he was on the scene of an incident last week in which a man driving a car with his twin boys in the back seat led police on a chase before he was apprehended and charged with drug and related offenses.
“I’m tired of taking toddlers out of cars because of bad decisions made by the parents,” he said.