Charges Likely Against Woman Who Police Said Crashed into Patrol Car

Charges are pending against a Washington woman Canonsburg police said crashed into a patrol car early Thursday morning and then kept driving.

Canonsburg police Officer Jonathon Cornell, who was not injured, had the emergency lights flashing as crews attempted to remove a tree limb from West Pike Street near Oak Spring Road around 12:45 a.m. Thursday.

That's when the officer said he noticed a red Dodge Neon turn right onto West Pike Street from Bluff Street and accelerate toward the patrol car.

"I was able to get out of the way before the Dodge Neon crashed into the rear end of my patrol vehicle," the officer noted in a police report. "After crashing ... the Dodge Neon continued to accelerate, pushing my vehicle and then maneuvering around it."

The driver, later identified as Danielle Stoner of 615 Moore Road in Washington, then continued driving down West Pike Street at a high rate of speed, according to a report.

Police said that after driving over a curb in the parking lot of CoGos, Stoner's vehicle finally stopped.

When officers approached the vehicle, they said the engine sounded as though the driver was pressing down on the accelerator.

Stoner complied when she was told to put the car in park and to get out and lie down on her stomach on the pavement. She was then escorted to the patrol car.

Police said the woman was having trouble maintaining her balance, and that she smelled like alcohol.

While in the patrol car, Stoner reportedly told police she had been drinking at a local club, and had smoked marijuana earlier in the evening. Further, she told police she had two marijuana pipes in her purse.

Police recovered the suspected paraphernalia, as well as two prescription pills that were in her wallet. One was a Xanax and the other was a Klonopin—drugs used to treat anxiety.

Stoner—who was not injured despite both air bags being deployed in her car—was transported to Canonsburg General Hospital for a blood draw.

While a police report indicated that charges would likely be filed pending the results of the test, it did not indicate what those charges would be.