Truck driver incarcerated after police find drugs in overturned tractor

Aug 22, 2023

The truck driver whose tractor-trailer overturned Saturday morning at the base of the Route 973 West off-ramp of Route 15 South in Lycoming Township was Deangelo Colen, 44, of Flint, Michigan, who was locked up on drug charges after four bags of suspected methamphetamine were found in the rig, according to court records filed by Lycoming Regional police.

Initially telling officers at the scene that he thought the truck “lost its brakes,” Colen, taken by ambulance at UPMC Williamsport, later refused to answer any more questions without a lawyer, police said. When an officer climbed into the truck’s cab, which was on its right side, to look for insurance and registration information, he spotted in the middle console a plastic bag containing “a hard, white crystal substance” believed to be methamphetamines. The officer looked no more and climbed down from the cab. A search warrant for the entire rig was then obtained.

Police said Colen was southbound on Route 15, traveling at a high rate of speed when he veered to the right, traveled down the off ramp, struck two signs and then overturned. A passerby who called 911 to report the crash told investigators that Colen flagged him down and asked if he could use his cellphone to send a text message, according to an affidavit. The man handed his phone to Colen, who texted two photos to an unidentified person, police said. One photo was a selfie Colen took of himself showing a laceration on his head while the other was of the rig on its side, police added.

After he was done texting, Colen handed back the phone to the passerby, who, a short time later showed the photos and text exchanges to police. One text reply that Colen received read “What the (expletive) man. Get everything out that’s not supposed to be in there,” court records stated. Once the search warrant for the truck was executed, police seized the bag the officer spotted plus three additional bags suspected of containing the controlled substance as well as an assortment of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

The Ohio registration on the trailer expired in April, police said.

After he was discharged from the hospital, Colen was arraigned before District Judge William Solomon on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and three summary violations, including accidents involving overturned vehicles and driving at an unsafe speed. He was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.

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