State prison in Pennsylvania.
A 32-year-old Bensalem man has been sentenced to serve up to 56 years in state prison after pleading guilty to killing a couple from Connecticut in a Feb. 24, 2024 crash that he caused while under the influence of methamphetamines.
According to information provided by law enforcement officials in Bucks County, John Thomas Wadlinger Jr., of Bensalem, was sentenced to serve 26 to 56 years in state prison for his involvement in a Feb. 24, 2024, hit-and-run crash along Veterans Highway at Ford Road in Bristol that killed Rebecca, 33, and Richard Whiddon, 37, both of Brooklyn, Conn.
In November of last year, Wadlinger pleaded guilty to charges involved after an investigation found he was under the influence of methamphetamine and amphetamine when he drove a Ford Explorer into a Nissan Sentra containing the Whiddons and two other people at about 73 m.p.h.
In court on Monday, officials said, Bristol Township Police Officer John Nowicke, who investigated the crash, testified that he had never seen such devastation.
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“This was the worst crash scene I’ve ever witnessed,” he said.
The crash nearly ripped the entire passenger side and trunk from the Nissan, officials said.
Following the deadly crash, Wadlinger fled the scene by stealing a dump truck, which he then also crashed, before attempted to escape on foot only to be apprehended.
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Officials said, along with the Whiddons being killed at the scene, one of the surviving victims was hospitalized for nine days with injuries that included a collapsed lung, liver laceration, multiple rib fractures and a right clavicle fracture.
“One moment, we are all happily laughing on our way to see our friends and in the next, jilted into an unconceivable nightmare,” Chandra Lampreich, who survived the crash, said in court on Monday, officials said. “The crash had caused such carnage; I felt like I was standing in the middle of a battlefield.”
In court, prosecutors showed surveillance video of the crash and the moments leading up to the tragic event, including video that showed the Whiddons and friends stopping at Wawa for snacks moments before the crash.
The Widdons, officials said, were in town for a friend' birthday celebration.
During his impact statement, officials said that Richard Whiddon’s father -- whose name officials did not provide -- told the court that “the pain, devastation, and shock of this tragedy haunt us every single day. We continue to struggle, both mentally and physically, as we try to process the unthinkable loss. At times, the pain feels utterly unbearable.”
Along with a prison sentence, Wadlinger was also ordered to pay $14,971 in restitution and $8,100 in fines.
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