22 March 2023- A Fulton County woman with no insurance, no valid license, and driving under the influence is looking at multiple felonies after she crashes and severely injures her passenger. Lydia Grace Black is charged with three counts of felony DUI, felony aggravated assault while DUI, felony accidents involving injury while not licensed, and five traffic violations. She is behind bars on $10,000 bail.
On July 18th of 2022, Pennsylvania State Police were dispatched to the 1800 block of Waterfall Road in Todd Township, Fulton County for a reported vehicle crash. According to crash reconstruction and witness testimony, the driver of the vehicle, Lydia Black, was having a verbal argument with her passenger when the car traveled off the road and hit a utility pole and an embankment. The car was extremely damaged, airbags deployed, and the driver was transported to Fulton County Medical Center for treatment. The passenger, however, was found to be in worse condition and was transported to FCMC before being flown to Holy Spirit Hospital for more treatment. The utility pole that the car hit was allegedly sheared partially off.
Black was transported to FCMC but before being transported she gave a preliminary interview with police in the back of the ambulance. According to officers, Black’s pupils were constricted and her eyelids droopy, with her having slow and raspy speech. A search of Black’s car allegedly found a hypodermic needle on the passenger seat. While it was transported back to PSP-McConnellsburg it was not able to be tested because PSP’s laboratory does not test needles.
Blood, however, was drawn from Black’s arm which was tested by PSP. It found that shortly after the accident, Black was under the influence of amphetamine and methamphetamine. Black was found to have two prior convictions for DUI.
Black’s passenger was flown to Holy Spirit for treatment. According hospital records he had a “displaced comminuted fracture of the right patella, initial encounter for closed fracture” as well as a “displaced comminuted fracture of the shaft of the right femur, initial encounter for closed fracture”.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, Black’s license was suspended for prior DUI’s, as well as her not having vehicle insurance for the car that she crashed.
Black waived her right for a Magisterial District Court appearance and has progressed to Common Pleas court.
Sources: Incident Number: PA 2022-926418, Docket Number: MJ-39401-CR-0000012-2023
