The superintendent of the Oswayo Valley School District in Potter County faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and attempting to elude police after reportedly crashing his vehicle Friday night in Bradford.
Jed Hamberger, of Bradford, was released on $5,000 unsecured bail after being charged with fleeing or attempting to elude an officer; DUI-highest rate of alcohol; DUI-general impairment; reckless driving; and failure to keep right after a sequence of events that allegedly started when his vehicle nearly struck a Foster Township police patrol vehicle head-on on South Kendall Avenue.
According to a Foster Township police press release, an officer was on patrol at approximately 10:20 p.m. Friday on South Kendall when a vehicle traveling in the opposite lane nearly struck the officer’s vehicle head-on.
“The officer was able to make an evasive movement to avoid colliding with the suspect’s vehicle,” the police department’s press release stated.
The officer made a U-turn and activated his emergency lights.
“At that point, the same vehicle sped up and failed to come to a yield for the officer’s emergency lights,” the release stated. “The suspect vehicle was pursued into the city of Bradford.”
Shortly after entering the city limits, the suspect’s vehicle left the roadway, struck a telephone pole and a large pile of rocks in front of a residence on South Kendall, where the vehicle came to rest.
The officer conducted an investigation and the operator of the crashed vehicle was identified as Hamberger. Through investigation, police said, the operator “was believed to be driving under the influence of alcohol.”
Hamberger was then placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and later arraigned by District Judge Dom Cercone.
Hamberger, who could not be reached for comment on the charges, was also cited for allegedly failing to keep right and failing to deactivate high beam headlights.
He has served as superintendent of Oswayo Valley in Shinglehouse since August 2019. He came to the district after serving as academic director for the West Greene School District in Greene County.
