Hatboro man admits to DUI in U.D. crash
Jordan Sky Anderson, 19, is awaiting a judge’s decision after pleading guilty to driving under the influence.
“There were pieces of vehicles scattered throughout the roadway.”
NORRISTOWN >> A Hatboro man is awaiting his fate from a judge after he admitted to driving under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of a fourvehicle crash that injured others in Upper Dublin.
Jordan Sky Anderson, 19, of the 2600 block of Broadway Avenue, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of aggravated assault by a vehicle while driving under the influence of controlled substances and DUI in connection with the June 23, 2018, crash that occurred at Welsh and Blair Mill roads in Upper Dublin.
Judge Thomas C. Branca deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Anderson, who will undergo drug and alcohol evaluations. The judge also ordered court officials to complete a house arrest suitability assessment in the case.
Anderson, who will be sentenced in October, faces a possible maximum sentence of 11½-to-23-months in jail on the charges.
Anderson was permitted to remain free on bail pending sentencing.
An investigation began about 10:45 a.m. when Upper Dublin police responded to the intersection of Welsh and Blair Mill roads for a report of a multi-vehicle crash with injuries. Upon arrival, police observed a black Dodge Charger with heavy front end damage in the westbound lanes of Welsh Road and a tan Toyota 4Runner, with heavy driver and rear door damage, in the eastbound left turn late of Welsh Road, according to the arrest affidavit.
“There were pieces of vehicles scattered throughout the roadway,” Upper Dublin Police Officer Kyle Gallen wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding police immediately attended to a young female passenger in the Toyota “who had sustained a head injury and was visibly bloody.”
“There were a total of four vehicles involved in the crash. One vehicle driven by Anderson and the other three vehicles contained a total of six occupants,” Gallen alleged.
The driver of the Toyota told police the Dodge Charger traveled over the median and struck her vehicle at a high rate of speed, according to court documents.
When police approached the Dodge Charger, they found Anderson in the passenger seat rummaging through papers in the vehicle. At that time, Anderson denied driving the vehicle, claiming his friend had been driving and ran from the scene of the crash, according to the criminal complaint.
Based on Anderson’s claims, police began to search for another driver.
However, the driver of a third vehicle involved in the crash told police that after the impact he got out of his vehicle to check on other individuals involved and observed Anderson in the driver’s seat of the Charger, according to the arrest affidavit.
Other witnesses told police they did not see anyone else in the Charger or anyone run from the vehicle.
One witness observed the Dodge Charger “driving erratically before the crash occurred,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Anderson eventually admitted to being the driver of the Dodge Charger, police said.
“Anderson consented to field sobriety tests and those tests shows signs of impairment,” Gallen alleged. Court documents do not identify the controlled substances allegedly in Anderson’s system.
The investigation determined Anderson was attempting to make a right turn onto Welsh Road from Blair Mill Road when he drove over the median and struck the Toyota, which had stopped at a red light in the left turn lane, police alleged. The impact caused the Toyota to strike a Subaru Forester in the left lane and the Forester then struck a Ford Escape in the right lane, police said.
Four occupants of the other vehicles were transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. One female sustained a laceration above her left eye that required 15 stitches, police said.
- Upper Dublin Police Officer Kyle Gallen