Wild Ride Ends With DUI Arrest in Easttown

Written by Bob Byrne

A wild ride through three townships finally ended up with an SUV on the nub of a front wheel and a trail of evidence literally gouged into the road surface through three townships, according to police.

Easttown Police say Kelley Abbott, 32, of Secane, Delaware County had a flat tire on West Chester Pike near the Pizzeria Uno in Newtown Square. According to police, the woman drove on the flat tire from Newtown Square down Route 3 to Interstate-476 where she made a U-turn and headed back toward Newtown Square on Route 3. Police say all of this happened while she was riding on what investigators say appeared to be only a front tire rim—or less.

Police say the vehicle gouged a trail into the road, which police from Newtown and Marple townships, were able to follow for several miles up West Chester Pike, through a traffic circle in Newtown Square and up Newtown Street Road/Route 252.

Easttown Police say the black SUV finally came to a stop at the intersection of Newtown Street Road/Route 252 and Sugartown Road in Easttown just before 4 a.m. Saturday. Police say the driver told an Easttown officer that she was lost, didn't know where she was and was trying to turn around when the black jeep ended up stuck in the grass where police had found her standing outside the SUV. 

Police say that when she was asked if she knew she was driving on two flat tires the woman answered, no. Police say Abbott told an Easttown officer that she had been at a bar in Tinnicum Township and got lost on her way home to the Secane section of Clifton Heights (Upper Darby Township) a few miles away.

Her vehicle came to rest in Easttown Township more than 13 miles away from her destination, according to Google Maps.

Easttown Police say the woman failed four field sobriety tests. Police say she was taken to Paoli Hospital where blood was drawn for a blood alcohol test. She now faces DUI and related charges.