State police on Thursday arrested a man hours after they say he rammed another vehicle in Salem on Route 66, injuring four people, including one who was taken to a hospital.
Cody A. Salensky, 26, did not have a valid drivers license because it had previously been suspended for an impaired driving offense, according to court papers.
He was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $50,000 bail.
The wreck was reported around 4 a.m. on Route 66, just north of the Route 22 interchange. Troopers described it as a road rage crash in which a GMC Sierra rear-ended a Volkswagen Jetta so hard that the two became entangled.
Three people in the Volkswagen had minor injuries and a passenger in the pickup, which police said Salensky was driving, was taken to a hospital, according to court papers.
Witnesses said Salensky got into an argument with one of the occupants of the Volkswagen at the GetGo gas station on Route 22 and followed the car in the pickup onto Route 66 north. The car changed lanes multiple times in an effort to get away before the collision, police said.
Salensky ran from the crash and couldn’t be located. He appeared to be intoxicated, witnesses said, and troopers reported finding empty alcohol cans in the pickup. Salensky sent a message to one of the car’s occupants afterwards threatening to shoot him, according to court papers.
An address for Salensky was not provided in a criminal complaint. Previous criminal cases indicated he has had addresses in Latrobe and Indiana. He is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle, flight to avoid apprehension, accidents involving injury, terroristic threats and related offenses. An attorney was not listed in court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Multiple warrants were out for Salensky’s arrest in at least four cases involving theft charges, according to online court records.
