A 21-year-old Reading man faces a slate of charges after police say he struck an occupied ambulance early Saturday while trying to drive his heavy-duty pickup truck through a downtown crash scene marked off by emergency vehicles.
Josiah A. Ferrer of the 100 block of Pear Street was arrested shortly after 2:30 a.m., but not before hitting several parked vehicles as he fled, according to court records. Officers also arrested his passenger, who ran from the scene and was caught after a brief foot chase.
Ferrer is charged with DUI, fleeing or attempting to elude police, reckless endangerment, hit-and-run, obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest and summary traffic offenses. He was released on $50,000 bail following arraignment Saturday afternoon before District Judge Steven M. Chieffo in Reading Central Court.
According to court records:
City police Officer Antonio Miranda was helping secure a crash scene in the 100 block of North Fifth Street when he saw a Ford F‑250 attempting to maneuver through the closed roadway. Emergency vehicles with flashing lights clearly marked the area.
The truck struck an occupied ambulance, prompting Miranda to order the driver to stop. Instead, Ferrer sped off southbound.
Miranda got into his patrol vehicle and pursued the truck, catching up to it at Fifth and Cherry streets, but Ferrer again refused to stop. During the chase, Ferrer ran stop signs, drove at excessive speeds and traveled the wrong way on one-way streets.
The pursuit ended in the 200 block of Schuylkill Avenue after Ferrer lost control and crashed into several parked vehicles, disabling the truck.
Ferrer and his passenger ran. Miranda chased Ferrer through nearby alleyways and tackled him near Pear and Walnut streets. Ferrer resisted being handcuffed, and officers used substantial force to take him into custody.
Police said Ferrer smelled of alcohol, and officers found open containers of alcoholic beverages in the truck’s cab along with a small amount of marijuana. Ferrer refused to submit to a legal breath test.
Investigators later learned he previously had been arrested for DUI but was admitted to the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, a pretrial diversion program for first-time, nonviolent offenders.
The passenger, Isaac D. Lopez Tinoco, 21, of Reading, was charged with obstructing the administration of law, evading arrest or detention on foot, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. He was released on $10,000 bail following arraignment before Chieffo.