Police: Vandergrift man flees traffic stop, crashes into Allegheny Township home

A Vandergrift man faces charges after police said he passed a loading school bus, fled a traffic stop and crashed into a home along Melwood Road in Allegheny Township.

Nico Hawley, 20, was arraigned Thursday in District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec’s office, hours after he caused a high-speed chase and swerved past several vehicles near Pounds’ Turkey Farm, ultimately crashing into a cement basement wall.

No one was reported injured.

Hawley’s charges include DUI, overtaking a school bus, reckless driving, driving without a license, fleeing, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was taken to the Westmoreland County jail awaiting a preliminary hearing Sept. 5.

According to court documents, the incident began about 8:35 a.m. while Allegheny Township police Chief Duane Fisher was monitoring traffic near a school bus stop at Sandalwood Drive and Hyde Park Road.

Fisher said a black Chevy Cruze, driven by Hawley, was traveling south on Hyde Park Road and failed to stop despite the stream of elementary students loading onto the bus.

Fisher initiated a traffic stop near the Exxon station. Hawley was the only person in the car. When he approached, Hawley put the car in gear and sped off, according to police.

Fisher pursued the Cruze as it drove at high speed west on Melwood Road toward Pounds’ Turkey Farm.

Fisher wrote on the police report that Hawley was “dangerously passing cars on a curve in a no-passing zone.”

As Lower Burrell police were advised to be on the lookout for the car heading toward Spooky Hollow Road, Westmoreland County dispatchers received calls that the black Cruze crashed into a house in the 3000 block of Melwood Road, at the corner of McGeary Hollow Road.

Witnesses told police the driver sped past multiple other vehicles, went over the double yellow line at a high speed and lost control as he swerved into the oncoming lane. He drove through a yard and crshed into the cement and brick wall of the house.

Police said Hawley got out and fled, running across McGeary Hollow Road and into the woods.

He was pursued by police Officer Christian Leonarski through the woods, where he tripped and fell before being apprehended.

Police found a small unlabeled plastic bag in Hawley’s jacket pocket with what appeared to be marijuana inside, according to court documents.

Hawley told police he smoked a large amount of weed in the day before the accident. He was taken to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison for a blood test.