LEBANON, Pa.–A Lebanon man was arrested Thursday after police say he left an injured woman after the car he was driving crashed into several parked cars and a porch on Tuesday night.
Angel Ortiz-Cruz, 37, is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle, fleeing or attempting to elude police, accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property accidents involving death or personal injury, reckless driving and several other traffic violations.
Police tried to stop Ortiz-Cruz’s vehicle after they spotted him driving the wrong direction down a one-way street along the 300 block of East Weidman Street in Lebanon City just before 9 p.m. Tuesday. As the officer approached Ortiz-Cruz’s vehicle, he sped off at a high rate of speed. Police were forced to terminate the pursuit due to adverse weather conditions. About an hour later, officers received information that a vehicle had struck several parked cars before crashing into a porch of a home at 540 Weidman Street.
Witnesses told police that the driver, later identified as Ortiz-Cruz, fled from the vehicle on foot towards North 7th Street. A female passenger, identified as Amanda Wolfe, 33, of West Lebanon, was found injured inside Ortiz-Cruz’s abandoned vehicle.
Wolfe was taken to a local hospital and remains in critical condition.
Ortiz-Cruz was arrested Thursday. He was initially taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of injuries he sustained during Tuesday’s crash. He was subsequently arraigned and taken to the Lebanon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 6.
