A driver attempting to flee police, who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, was the cause of a single-vehicle crash along Twining Road last week, police said. Upper Dublin Township Police reported a silver sedan on Sunday, June 30, at 7:27 p.m. observed by police to be speeding along Susquehanna, near North Limekiln Pike, over the posted 45-mph speed limit.
As police passed the vehicle in the oncoming lane, the officer on duty conducted a U-turn in order to pursue the speeding sedan, which soon fled, according to reports, despite police having activated emergency lights and siren.
Police reportedly checked the area following the U-turn, but could not locate the vehicle. At 7:31 p.m., the department was dispatched to 1666 Twining Road for a crash. The same silver sedan police reported to be speeding was the only vehicle involved in the crash.
Joseph Michael Craner was identified as the driver, according to police. He was not injured in the crash. He told police, according to reports, that he’d left his Ambler apartment on Lincoln Drive and was traveling eastbound on Susquehanna Road.
He allegedly told police that he’d “swerved” to get past cars while going past a gas station. Police said he had illegally passed the vehicles. Craner also told police he’d made a left onto Twining Road and “swerved cars along the way because he was panicking,” police said.
“He thought he could make the turn, but was going too fast,” said the police department’s written criminal complaint. “While ‘swerving’ a car near the bend, he lost control and crashed into the tree.”
Craner did not have any priors, but did have two other charges for driving under the influence (DUI), according to the report. Police said that Craner was “scared” and was driving fast to evade police pursuit.
“I know I was in trouble,” Craner said to police, according to the report. “I saw your car. I definitely saw you. Yea, I was fleeing. I was scared.”
Police reported smelling “an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath” and that “his eyes were glassy and bloodshot.” Craner reportedly told police that he’d consumed “four to five White Claws within the last two hours.” Police requested standardized field sobriety tests and attempted advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement, they said, but Craner refused.
A witness told police, according to the written complaint, that a vehicle passed her on the left, into oncoming traffic, which she believed was going “at least 100 mph.”
“The vehicle was not tailing her, and she never saw it in her rearview mirror,” police said in reports.
Police said that, based on his fleeing, driving behavior, crash, and admittance to consuming alcoholic beverages, in addition to odor coming from his breath, Craner was then arrested for DUI at 7:56 p.m. He was transported to Holy Redeemer Hospital by UPPD for evaluation, according to reports.
Fort Washington Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Horsham Fire Company Community Ambulance, and the Second Alarmer’s Rescue Squad also accompanied Upper Dublin Police at the scene June 30.
For more coverage on the initial crash, see Wissahickon Now's report here: https://wissnow.com/news/2024/jul/01/vehicle-crash-twining-road-upper-dublin/.
