Driver in wrong-way I-95 crash sentenced to 1-2 years

MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Chester County man who caused an accident while driving the wrong way down Interstate 95 with cocaine and heroin in his system was sentenced to one to two years in a state prison.

Anthony Colabove, 42, of the 400 block of Saunders Drive in the Wayne section of Tredyffrin Township, was also sentenced this week to four years of consecutive probation for the March 4 collision under the negotiated guilty plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Glackin and defense counsel Anthony List.

Colabove pleaded guilty before Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Scanlon to attempting to flee or elude police, a felony of the third degree, as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

Additional DUI charges were withdrawn, and other charges including reckless endangerment and summary traffic violations had been disposed of at the magisterial district court level.

Colabove was hospitalized in fair condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center as a result of the crash near mile marker

9.5 of northbound I-95 and has been incarcerated ever since.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the crash occurred around 3 p.m. as Colabove was attempting to evade members of the Philadelphia Police Department by driving southbound in the northbound lanes of

I-95 in a black Ford F-150. “Members of the Philadelphia Police Department initially tried to move Colabove’s F-150 off of the arriving flight ramps at Philadelphia International Airport,” according to the affidavit. “Colabove then drove across the grassy median, striking two vehicles in Philadelphia County.”

Colabove ignored the emergency lights and sirens of Philadelphia police vehicles in pursuit and entered I-95 northbound traffic in the wrong direction, traveling into Tinicum Township. where he collided with a silver sedan. The 19-year-old driver of the other vehicle did not suffer serious injuries, according to a release from Pennsylvania State Police.

State Trooper Christopher Tustin, who was patrolling I-95 when the crash occurred, reported speaking with Colabove before he was transported to the hospital. Tustin said in the affidavit that Colabove told him he had used heroin and cocaine, and described the defendant as “extremely lethargic” with “pin tight pupils.”

Tustin searched Colabove’s vehicle and recovered a dime-sized amount of suspected cocaine in the driver’s side door, according to the affidavit.

Colabove, a U.S. Navy veteran, described the crash as a “horrible mistake” made during a stressful time in his life Monday.

“I got some problems,” he said. “I suffered from some PTSD, and drugs and alcohol. I need to get some help. I was losing a marriage of over 20 years and I made some bad choices.”

Judge Scanlon said the circumstances of the crash were “absolutely frightening” and that the offer from the commonwealth was very fair, given the startling facts of the case. Scanlon also advised Colabove that he would sentence him far in excess of the offer if he went to trial and was found guilty.

In addition to prison, Colabove was ordered to attend safe driving school and take a CRN evaluation. He was also ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and pay nearly $400 in costs and fees.

Colabove was given credit for time served but is not eligible for early release on good time due to a prior terroristic threats conviction.