Driver, 18, charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI for Spring Brook crash that killed a North Pocono High School student
Jul. 26—An 18-year-old Jefferson Twp. man was driving drunk and told investigators they would find traces of marijuana in his system when he crashed his SUV last month in Spring Brook Twp., killing a teenage passenger, state police said.
Ayden Fredrick Beckage, who graduated from North Pocono High School the evening before the fatal crash, was charged Wednesday at Lackawanna County Criminal Justice Center with homicide by vehicle while DUI and other charges.
He is accused of causing the death of Kadan Rabender, 17, who was ejected from Beckage's 2013 Chevrolet Traverse when it careened off Route 307 and down a steep embankment just before 6 a.m. on June 10.
An unnamed witness who stopped to help after the crash told investigators he saw the victim lying face down about 30 feet from the wrecked SUV, state police said in a criminal complaint.
"If he dies, I am going to jail for a long time," the witness recalled Beckage telling him, the complaint said.
Rabender, a Spring Brook resident who had just finished his junior year at North Pocono, was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Beckage, 298 Wimmers Road, was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Joanne Corbett and held in the county jail when he could not post $150,000 bail. His preliminary hearing was scheduled next Thursday at 10 a.m.
As he left the CJC after the arraignment, Beckage's attorney, Bernard Brown, said his client knew the charges were coming.
"We understand it's been a tragedy all around," Brown said.
According to the complaint, Beckage spoke with Trooper Brian Roberts after the crash at Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he was taken for treatment of minor injuries. He denied drinking alcohol but admitted he smoked marijuana, later saying he had smoked two days earlier and it would show up in a blood test, the complaint said.
The trooper noted Beckage's eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and he smelled of alcohol.
Beckage consented to a blood draw, which showed he had a blood alcohol level about 90 minutes after the crash of 0.127, well above the state legal limit of 0.08, the complaint said. It also revealed the presence of THC compounds; THC is the active component in marijuana.
Beckage told Roberts he was driving Rabender home when he swerved to miss a deer in the road, the complaint said. A witness who was traveling in the opposite direction said the SUV veered across the road and off the shoulder before plunging over the embankment.
The state police investigation found Beckage had spent the evening of June 9 and early morning of June 10 celebrating his graduation with Rabender, the complaint said.
Investigators learned Beckage and Rabender attended several house parties throughout the night, and multiple juveniles came forward with information about both individuals sending Snapchats with content related to consuming alcohol while operating a motor vehicle, according to the complaint.
After the crash, troopers went to one residence where the two were known to have been and found juveniles present but no adults, police said. When contact finally was made with the adult owners, they declined to cooperate.
A juvenile interviewed June 20 told police Beckage called him about 5 a.m. on June 10 and said he and Rabender were coming to his home, the complaint said. After their plans to watch the sunrise were thwarted by smoky conditions, the juvenile said he asked Rabender what he wanted to do and Rabender replied he just wanted to go home.
Rabender was asleep in the passenger seat when Beckage got into the driver's seat and drove away about 5:30 a.m., the juvenile told police, according to the complaint.
In addition to felony vehicular homicide while DUI, state police charged Beckage with four misdemeanor counts of DUI, recklessly endangering another person and three summary traffic offenses.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132
