Penns Valley man who seriously injured three in crash heading back to jail
A Penns Valley man who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence when he caused a crash that seriously injured three people was sentenced Friday to at least nine months in jail.
Noah Lucas, 19, crashed a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta into an oncoming vehicle in May along state Route 45 in Millheim, state police at Rockview wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Bystanders told officers Lucas was traveling through the borough “at a high rate of speed,” police wrote. Lucas, of Madisonburg, and his two passengers were flown to Geisinger Medical Center for treatment.
One of the passengers was treated for a brain bleed, while the other was treated for a broken pelvis and a ruptured spleen, police wrote. Lucas’ injuries were not described.
His blood alcohol content was 0.09%, police wrote. The legal threshold for DUI for those under 21 in Pennsylvania is 0.02%.
Lucas pleaded guilty in September to one felony count of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, one misdemeanor count of DUI and two summary traffic violations. One felony, three misdemeanors and five summary traffic violations were dropped.
His maximum sentence handed down by Centre County Judge Katherine Oliver is 23 1/2 months. He received credit for 10 days served and is scheduled to report to jail Saturday.
“I would like to say I’m sorry for the incident,” Lucas said. “... I’ll take this as a lesson to help me grow as a young man.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 1:56 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the legal threshold for DUI for those under 21 in Pennsylvania. The threshold is 0.02%.