Crime & Safety

Suspected Drunken Driver Led Cops on Wild Chase: Police

Motorist drove wrong way on Route 378, before causing havoc on streets of South Bethlehem, police say.

By Jack Tobias

A suspected drunk driver carrying two passengers led city police on a wild chase through the streets of South Bethlehem that began after he turned his car from Main Street onto the exit-only ramp from Route 378.

It ended when his car collided with another vehicle as it travelled the wrong way on a one-way street in South Bethlehem.

Court records say the driver, Luis Alfredo Perez Jr., 35, of Allentown and one of the passengers ran away after the crash but didn't get far and were taken into custody around 2:45 a.m. Saturday.

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Perez told police he had consumed one shot, one beer and one mixed drink before driving. Police charged him with DUI, resisting arrest, flee/eluding police, driving with a suspended license, recklessly endangering another person and a slew of traffic violations.

A criminal complaint filed by city Officer David Sabol said police spotted Perez's silver 2000 Honda Civic going the wrong way on the Main Street exit of Route 378 north.

The complaint also said:

  • Perez then drove across the Route 378 median between the northbound and southbound lanes and drove north in the southbound lanes. When he saw an approaching police car with emergency lights flashing, Perez made a U-turn and drove south on the southbound lanes.
  • Perez went through the red light at Brighton Street. Sabol tried to stop him near W. Third and Wyandotte streets but the Honda went through the red light. With police in pursuit, Perez went through three more red lights, then went through seven stop signs along E. Fourth, Adams and Morton streets.
  • The Honda was going south on the 400 block of Buchanan Street—a one-way-north street—when it hit another vehicle. It's not clear if the vehicle was moving or parked.
Perez, of 204 S. 16th St., was arraigned at 9:30 Sunday morning by on-duty District Judge Todd Strohe of Bangor and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $15,000 bail.

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