DUI; Fire
A Hughesville man who has at least three drunk driving convictions has been charged yet again, this time with driving under the influence of an unknown drug following an accident on Christmas Eve in which he was found “unresponsive with weak vital signs,” according to Muncy Township police.
A car driven by Curtis Adam Stevens, 26, of 341 S. Main St., struck a snow bank at Route 220 and Narber Fry Road about 5:50 p.m., Cpl Ryan E. Smith said in an affidavit.
Through his investigation, Smith determined that Stevens, who is on parole for a 2007 drunk driving conviction, was “under the influence of a drug or a combination of drugs,” the officer said in the affidavit.
As he began to treat the injured driver, Smith saw signs that Stevens may have injected himself with drugs while in the car.
“His skin was pale and clammy, and a puncture site was located at the bend of his left arm,” Smith said of Stevens. An intravenous needle was visible inside the car’s console, the officer added.
Within minutes after the crash, paramedics “administered a drug (to Stevens) commonly used to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose,” Smith said. The driver’s condition was stabilized as a result of the paramedics’ actions, the officer said.
Once he arrived by ambulance at Muncy Valley Hospital, one of the first things Stevens told an officer was “I need help,” Smith said.
Police never determined what drug Stevens had taken because he never allowed his blood to be tested, Smith said.
Stevens claimed he was not the car’s driver at the time of the accident. He told investigators that “a friend he only knew as ‘Rook’ was driving the vehicle. Upon crashing the car, the driver moved Stevens into the driver’s seat and fled,” Smith said Stevens told police.
However, a witness told police that Stevens was the only occupant in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
As medical personnel were undressing Stevens in the hospital’s emergency room so that they could continue to treat him, a bag of pills spilled out onto the floor from one of his boots, Smith said. The pills turned out to be hydrocodone, a prescribed drug for which Stevens had no prescription, Smith said.
Stevens, who recovered from his injuries, has been charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants, possession of a controlled substance and driving with a suspended license. He has been sent a summons to appear before District Judge C. Roger McRae.
Court records state that in addition to his 2007 conviction, Stevens was convicted of drunk driving in 2002 and again 2003.
Saying she was hearing voices telling her to “be destructive,” an inmate at the state Correctional Instritution at Muncy set two small fires in her cell one night in late November, according to state police.
Both fires in Shaquera Shadae Williams’ cell on Nov. 25 were quickly extingushed by corrections officers, Cpl. Nicholas Loffredo, a state police fire marshal, said.
Neither Williams nor her cellmate were injured, but a corrections officer, who was not identified, was treated at a local hospital for smoke inhalation, said Loffredo, who filed charges last week against Williams.
Efforts to get sentencing information about the 23-year-old inmate from the prison were unsuccessful. Information on where she was convicted also was not available.
“Williams twice started a fire in her cell by setting papers on fire using a cigarette lighter,” Loffredo said in an affidavit. There was no damage to the cell, he added.
Williams admitted that she burned “letters from people like her ex-girlfriends and family members,” Loffredo said.
The inmate told the fire marshal that she “was depressed,” and that even though she is prescribed medication for the condition, she had not been taking the medicine lately.
Williams told Loffredo she had been “hearing voices” that were telling her to “be destructive.”
Williams was arraigned Thursday before District Judge C. Roger McRae on charges of arson, causing or risking a catastrophe and recklessly endangering. She was recommitted to the prison in lieu of $10,000 bail. She also waived her preliminary hearing.