Police: Man Drunk Behind The Wheel Charged In Deadly Bucks County Crash
By Brad Segall
FALLS TWP., Pa. (CBS) - A Bucks County man is behind bars, charged with homicide by vehicle DUI and related offenses in connection with a deadly crash in Falls Township last October.
A four month investigation determined that 22-year-old Michael Ahearn of Lower Makefield had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when he got behind the wheel and struck a car just before midnight October 30th. The driver of that car -- 23-year-old Kaitlin Abel -- was killed when she went off the road and into a ravine.
Bucks County prosecutor David Keightly Junior says Abel was on her way home:
"She almost made it home on Route 13 northbound which is a divided highway in Falls Township when suddenly, out of nowhere, the defendant's vehicle strikes her head on at a high rate of speed."
Police that night called the crash scene "horrific."
"And there was debris all over the roadway," says Keightly. "The defendant's vehicle had the roof torn off -- that was to extricate him. The decedent's vehicle was down in a ditch."
Ahearn's bail was set at $250,000. He was unable to post ten-percent of that amount.
This is not his first contact with the law. He pleaded guilty earlier this year in connection with another drunk driving incident five weeks before this crash.