Teen driver arrested after chase
A teenage driver is accused of leading state police on a weekend chase in which speeds reached 115 mph before crashing in a field in Cherry Township.
State police said they eventually had to forcibly remove the suspect, Kenneth R. Wagner, 19, of Cherry Township, from his car following the 11-mile pursuit. Neither he nor his front-seat passenger, a 16-year-old girl, were injured.
The girl, police said, told troopers that she had asked Wagner “to stop on multiple occasions.”
District Judge William Fullerton arraigned the defendant on felony charges of child endangerment and fleeing or attempting to elude police.
Additionally, he was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. He also is charged with 13 traffic violations. He is free on $15,000 bail.
Trooper Austin Griffith was in his cruiser on Route 8 in Center Township just before 2 a.m. Saturday when he saw a Toyota sedan with a faulty headlight, police said. The car continued north onto Route 308 and accelerated.
The trooper activated his emergency lights and siren, and the car eventually hit a speed of 115 mph in the 45 mph zone.
The pursuit continued onto Byers, Mahood, Beaver Dam and Kiester roads. During the chase, police said, the driver, later identified as Wagner, nearly lost control of the car several times.
He also allegedly ran stop signs and turned off his headlights and taillights to avoid detection. Police said at one point they tried to perform a precision immobilization technique, better known as a PIT, but to no avail.
The car struck several fences and mailboxes before crashing into a field on Kiester Road. Wagner refused to get out of the vehicle, police said, and he had to be taken out of it.
Once out, he is accused of refusing to give police his right arm, so that he could be arrested.
“Wagner stated to me that he ran because his headlight was out,” according to Griffith's affidavit, “and he believed that his insurance was invalid for the vehicle.”
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8. Online court records did not list an attorney for him, and he could not be reached for comment.
