Driver charged in fiery Bethlehem crash had meth and THC in his system, DA says

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A 27-year-old man has been charged with 29 counts in the May 14 crash at a Bethlehem intersection that hospitalized three people and downed multiple utility poles, after blood tests showed methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC in his system at the time of the wreck, according to Northampton County prosecutors and court records.

Ezra Duke Wright faces charges including two felony counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, two counts of DUI involving a controlled substance, five counts of recklessly endangering another person and a single count of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, online court dockets show. He is also charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and with a string of summary traffic violations, among them reckless driving, running a red light and disregarding traffic lanes.

District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta announced the charges Friday, May 29. A criminal complaint was filed that day before Magisterial District Judge Roy A. Manwaring II, and the case is awaiting a preliminary hearing, according to court records, which as of Saturday, May 30, did not list a hearing date.

The charges stem from the May 14 collision at New Street and Elizabeth Avenue, where police found a Kia driven by Wright on fire and two people trapped inside a Honda. Wright and the Honda’s two occupants were cut from their vehicles and taken to a hospital. Prosecutors said the crash injured the Honda’s two occupants; Wright was also hospitalized.

As of Friday, May 29, authorities had not released any update on their conditions, and no deaths have been reported in connection with the crash.

In the moments after the wreck, workers and bystanders from nearby businesses grabbed a fire extinguisher and knocked down the flames before firefighters arrived, Adrian Beqiri of Fratelli Pizza told Lehigh Daily at the scene that day.

According to the district attorney’s office, officers found about 3.5 grams of marijuana on Wright and drug paraphernalia inside his vehicle. Police obtained a search warrant to draw and test his blood.

Those results, returned May 29, showed the presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC at the time of the crash, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said video from several angles captured the moments before the collision, showing Wright passing other drivers by steering onto the grass, swerving into oncoming traffic at high speed, narrowly missing other vehicles and running a red light.

Moments before the crash, the office said, his Kia was involved in a hit-and-run on Route 378, where he wove between two vehicles and struck one, causing damage. Police have said the wreck was not the result of a police pursuit.

Court records show Wright has a prior criminal record in Pennsylvania. Over the past several years, he has pleaded guilty to a 2023 felony charge of disarming a police officer and several misdemeanor assault charges in the Lehigh Valley, along with drug offenses in the Valley and elsewhere in the state, according to online dockets maintained by Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System. Some of those cases sent him to county jail.

The investigation involved the Bethlehem Police Department’s Patrol Division, Criminal Investigations Division and Major Accident Reconstruction Team, police said.