Drunk driver hits students’ cars on on Hillside Avenue

A middle-aged man was arrested early Friday morning for allegedly drunk driving on Hillside Avenue, totaling three Lehigh University student cars between 3 – 5 a.m, according to Officer James Apgar from the Bethlehem Police Department. The driver attempted to flee in his red pickup truck.

Aidan Schubert, ’20, who leases a house on Hillside, heard the crash and immediately ran outside to investigate. He said he spotted the truck on Thomas Street, and tried to flag the driver down by waving his arms and shining the flashlight on his iPhone. He then chased the car for approximately 50 feet and memorized the license plate.

He said tried to look into the vehicle, but the windows were tinted and there was no light on in the car.

“I just kept repeating the license plate, and then I called the (police) and they pulled up in like 20 mins,” Schubert said. “Then they called back and were like ‘yeah we got him, driving away from Thomas street.’”

Emily Hopper, ’20, learned through a GroupMe message that her car was totalled in the accident. A member of her sorority messaged a group that a Jeep from Connecticut had been destroyed on Hillside. 

Hopper said she had a gut feeling it was her car. She’s now waiting to learn the cost of the damages to her car from the tow company. 

“They do a formal check and look at it, it’s basically just a lot of waiting… I guess it takes around 2 weeks for the police to file a report and (there are) around 17 officers to go through, so I won’t know anything or be able to drive for two weeks,” she said.

Hopper is getting a rental car in the meantime from her insurance company. 

“It’s obviously not ideal, but it happens, not what you want on Halloween night,” Hopper said. “It’s scary because this guy was a drunk driver and it was Halloween night. If this was an hour or two earlier it could’ve been a kid or something walking through the streets, thankfully it was late at night so there was not a lot of people around. Scary stuff.”