A West Deer man told authorities he ran from a two-vehicle crash in which he and three others were injured Sunday because he was wanted on a warrant, according to police.
Now Travis Trenton Brewer, 30, faces nearly two dozen additional charges.
Police suspect Brewer was high on heroin when officers arrested him following a foot chase after the crash around 2:45 p.m. on Freeport Road in East Deer, according to a criminal complaint.
Officials said it appeared that Brewer, who was driving a red pickup, crossed the road’s center line and crashed into a silver SUV carrying a man and woman and their 9-year-old grandson. All three were taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital.
Brewer suffered a major cut to his tongue and was taken to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital, police said.
East Deer police could not be reached Monday to provide an update on their conditions.
The criminal complaint said witnesses reported that a man later identified as Brewer got out of the wrecked pickup as police tended to victims in the SUV and ran up Second Street onto Marion Street.
Officers chased Brewer into the woods up a steep hillside and arrested him a short time later. Police said he showed signs of being under the influence of drugs and began to fall in and out of consciousness.
A spoon with a brown, oily residue and burn marks on the underside was found beneath the driver’s seat of the pickup, according to police. Such an item is commonly associated with heroin use, a criminal complaint said.
Brewer faces 23 charges related to Sunday’s incident, including aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, accidents involving death or personal injury and numerous traffic violations. The warrant that Brewer said spurred him to run from the crash scene was issued after he missed a court appearance for a parole violation for a misdemeanor drug charge, according to the Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Office.
