An Altoona student-athlete is killed in a DUI crash and the driver is almost three times over the legal limit

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) – Homicide charges were officially filed Monday after a crash that killed an Altoona Area High School student over the weekend.

According to court documents, 19-year-old Jared Paul Detwiler faces DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and related charges after a 17-year-old student was pronounced dead at the scene just before 4 p.m.: 30 a.m. Sunday.

Altoona police were called to the scene of the accident in the 900 block of 10th Avenue Expressway. Detwiler was allegedly drunk when he crashed his truck into several parked cars.

Original story: AAHS football player killed in early morning accident in Altoona

Police said Detwiler and the teenager were thrown from the truck, and a third person managed to escape without injury. The teen was pronounced dead and Detwiler was taken to UPMC with a broken foot and broken vertebrae. According to the complaint, Detwiler claimed he swerved off the road to avoid someone who cut him off and caused the accident.

Police noted that surveillance footage from The Green Avenue Towers shows no one had turned in front of Detwiler before the crash.

According to the complaint, UPMC police found that Detwiler’s blood alcohol content was almost three times the legal limit (0.218). According to another witness, they were at a “SIGMA” fraternity party at the Grandview Avenue office campus when Detwiler drove off in a passenger truck, taking the football player and another teenager with him.

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“This is a tragic loss,” said AASD’s Paula Foreman, offering her “sympathies and condolences to the family.”

Altoona police said Detwiler will be arrested upon his release from UPMC Altoona.

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