Credit: Bristol Township police
A reckless man who crashed his car into a home while high on drugs will spend time in state prison.
Edward John O’Brien Jr., 22, of Bristol Township, entered an open guilty plea before Bucks County Judge Wallace Bateman Monday at the Justice Center in Doylestown. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault while driving under the influence, aggravated assault by vehicle, driving under the influence and several lesser charges, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
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The judge sentenced O’Brien to two years of state prison time, four years of concurrent probation, $2,700 in restitution, and a $1,000 fine.
The judge also said O’Brien must continue addiction treatment to get better and also to protect the public.
“You could have killed yourself and you could have killed others,” Bateman said. “At this point, the drug has taken over your life.”
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O’Brien, according to authorities, injected himself with what he thought to be heroin while pulled over in his 2016 Honda Civic. The 22-year-old man then overdosed and unintentionally drove his car into the living room of Mary and Albert Albright’s home on Gun Road in Bristol Township’s Levittown section. The crash happened just after 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve last year.
The Honda crashed through the rear sliding glass doors and struck a couch Mary Albright, 76, had just gotten up from. It threw Albert Albright, 80, out of the chair he was sitting in.
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Police responded to the crash scene and had to revive O’Brien with two doses of naxolone.
Due to the crash, the Albright’s yellow Labrador retriever escaped the home and ran to Edgely Road, where a passing vehicle struck and killed the dog. The vehicle that hit the dog did not stop, police said.
Albert Albright suffered severe shoulder injuries and is still recovering.
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“I saw bright lights, and then there was an explosion,” Albert Albright said in court. “I was thrown across the room.”
“We should be dead. It was a miracle,” said Mary Albright. “I mean, the car hit the back of his chair. I took six steps away from where I had been sitting … We thought we were under attack.”
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At the time of the crash, O’Brien was out of prison on bail due to two drug possession charges previously lodged against him.
A blood test from the night of the crash showed O’Brien had cocaine and fentanyl in his system, prosecutors said.
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“The fact that I put two innocent people’s lives in danger and could have killed them or myself doesn’t sit right with me,” O’Brien told the judge. “…I just want the opportunity to get my life back together and to get help.”
O’Brien said heroin had been a struggle for years. He further stated he grew up in a broken family where both of his parents suffered from addiction.
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“I’ve seen things that a child shouldn’t see …. I don’t really like myself [and] the only way to numb that is through drugs,” he said.
O’Brien apologized for his actions.
His attorney, Thomas Logan, told the court that O’Brien had “no mean spirit toward” the Albrights.
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“My heart goes out to Edward,” Mary Albright said, adding “I pray that he will choose to get the help that is out there.”
