A Muhlenberg Township man has been sentenced to prison for causing a wrong-way fatal crash in 2022 while intoxicated by alcohol and illegal drugs.
Varun Kumar, 31, of the 800 block of Georgia Avenue entered an open guilty plea Wednesday before Berks County Judge Jill Scheidt to one count of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.
Scheidt accepted the plea and sentenced Kumar to 4 to 10 years in state prison. He will receive credit for 1,186 days served.
According to police:
Kumar caused the June 3, 2022, crash on Route 422 in Douglass Township that killed 46-year-old Alisha Weglinski of Reading.
Weglinski was driving west on Route 422, also known as the Pottstown Bypass, when the crash occurred about 1:30 a.m. on the Berks side of the Montgomery County line.
According to witnesses, Kumar was eastbound in the westbound lanes of the bypass and collided with Weglinski’s vehicle.
Weglniski was pronounced dead at 4:37 a.m. by Berks County Deputy Coroner Joseph Pothering.
Kumar was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
A paramedic who transported Kumar to the hospital said Kumar stated, “I was driving home from D.C. and this car was going the wrong way and hit me.”
Witnesses, however, reported seeing the dark sedan identified as Kumar’s going eastbound, the wrong direction, in the westbound lanes. One woman said she was driving home from Philadelphia International Airport. She was in the right westbound lane and saw the sedan pass her from the opposite direction in the left lane.
She and her passenger told police a male was driving.
Investigators got a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Kumar. Lab tests revealed metabolites of THC, which is the chemical responsible for the psychological effects of marijuana, as well as methamphetamine.