Driver may have dozed off before head-on crash on Route 183, police say

A Lebanon man is believed to have fallen asleep behind the wheel before his car veered across the center line on Route 183 in Bern Township and collided with an oncoming van, police said Tuesday, June 30.

Juan Gerena-Morales, 26, and his two passengers, Edyarielis Lugo Martinez, 19, and her sister Edshyel Lugo Martinez, 17, were taken by ambulance to the Reading Hospital trauma center after the crash about 9 a.m. Monday, June 29, police said.

Information on their medical conditions was unavailable.

The driver of the transit van, Erin Albright, 36, Mohnton, was treated for minor injuries at Penn State Health St. Joseph.

According to a preliminary investigation by Bern police, Gerena-Morales was traveling southbound when the car drifted into the northbound lane just north of Hilltop Road and collided with the van.

Firefighters needed to pry open the car to free the occupants. A section of Route 183 near West

Leesport Road was closed for about an hour.

STEVEN HENSHAW - MEDIANEWS GROUP Emergency responders at a head-on crash Monday morning, June 29, that injured three people on Route 183 and Hilltop Road in Bern Township.