Jul 4, 2018 3 min read

Charges have been filed in an April rollover crash that severely injured both the driver and passenger.

Brian Louk, 46, of 106 Monongahela Ave., Rices Landing, faces charges of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, reckless endangerment, two counts of DUI and five summary driving violations.

Cumberland Township police responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash with one person trapped inside on Harts Road outside Carmichaels just after midnight April 21. Officer Eric Orr wrote in the criminal complaint he was the first to arrive on the scene and saw a silver pickup truck on its side. The truck seemed to have run off the right side of the road and rolled multiple times. Numerous beer cans were scattered over the road leading up to the overturned truck, police said.

Passenger Wyatt Jobe, whose head and face were covered in blood, screamed at Orr to help his friend. Orr said he could see Louk pinned from his thighs down underneath the driver’s side of the truck cab.

“Louk was conscious and yelling to me to get the truck off of him,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Orr said he tried to keep Louk calm, telling him additional personnel and tools were on the way to assist. Police said during this interaction, Louk’s speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol. After fire and EMS arrived, Orr was able to ask the passenger about the incident. Jobe reportedly said the two were coming from Uniontown and he told Louk he should not drive because he had been drinking.

After Louk was freed from the truck, he was flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital, Morgantown, W.Va. Jobe was taken by ambulance to Ruby. Once the truck was upright, Orr said he saw additional open beer cans inside.

Cumberland Township police obtained Jobe and Louk’s medical records June 5. They said Louk’s blood-alcohol content was 0.194 percent, more than twice the limit at which intoxication is presumed.

Jobe had a head laceration with shards of glass embedded in it and told police he had scarring from the crash.

The owner of the truck, Debra Phillips, told police Louk was not permitted to drive her vehicle. He reportedly had the truck about a week prior to the crash so he could fix a mechanical issue. Phillips said at the time of the crash, Louk was living in Rices Landing, and that is where she thought her vehicle was before she was notified of the accident.

Louk has a preliminary hearing before District Judge Lee Watson at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and remains free on $25,000 unsecured bond.