A suspected drunken driver let his wife fall out of their pickup truck in Bucks County then kept driving, running her over the process and causing severe head trauma, police said.
Robin Ryan fell from Andrew Ryan’s silver Ford pickup truck along Lincoln Highway, Business Route 1, in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, around 5:30 p.m. Monday, according to a Falls Township Police Department criminal complaint obtained by NBC10.
Witnesses told investigators they heard a “screech” as the truck, which was traveling at a high-rate of speed, swerved onto the right shoulder of Lincoln Highway then saw a woman fall from the passenger side. As the truck drove off, its trailer ran over the woman, police said.
About 10 minutes later, a Pennsylvania state trooper noticed a pickup truck hauling a landscaping trailer that matched witness descriptions about one mile away, police said. The driver, 31-year-old Ryan, admitted to being involved in the crash that left his wife hurt, police said.
“Ryan’s eyes were watery/bloodshot, had slurred speech and had alcohol emanating from his breath,” said police.
An officer arrived on the scene to find a good Samaritan tending to Robin Ryan, who had a “serious wound to the back of her skull” and was bleeding profusely from her head, police said. Her breathing was shallow and she had a broken femur, as well as abrasions to her legs and arms. Medics rushed her in critical condition to St. Mary’s Medical Center where doctors performed emergency surgery on her head.
Ryan, of Warminster, later told investigators that he and his wife went to a local bar to drink after work. Ryan said he drank four beers and two shots of Patron tequila in about one hour, police said.
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The couple “bickered” over money, Ryan told police. The argument intensified once they were in the truck to the point where Ryan stopped and suggested his wife get out. She complied but then got back in the truck after several seconds, failing to fully close the passenger side door, police said.
Ryan said he noticed the door open warning light on his dashboard and noticed the door was moving as he drove onto Lincoln Highway, police said. He swerved to the side of the road because he thought his wife wanted to get out of the vehicle despite her never verbally saying so, police said. Robin Ryan then fell from the vehicle.
Her husband said he didn’t realize the trailer ran over his wife and he claimed he fled the scene because he was “drunk,” investigators said.
Ryan failed a field sobriety test and later submitted to a blood test, police said.
Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage arraigned him early Tuesday on aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and DUI charges and sent him to jail as he was unable to post 10 percent of $200,000 bail. Court records don’t list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
