A Bel Air man is facing serious felony charges after a Harford County school bus crash that killed a local teenager and rattled an entire community.
A Harford County grand jury on Tuesday indicted John Anthony Gaeta Jr. on charges that include negligent vehicular manslaughter and second-degree assault in connection with a Sept. 18, 2025, wreck that killed 16-year-old C. Milton Wright High School student Blake Elliott and seriously injured another student. Investigators say the crash unfolded on MD-543 near Crescent Knoll Drive when a vehicle stopped to make a left turn was hit from behind and shoved into the path of a southbound Harford County Public School bus. Gaeta is being held at the Harford County Detention Center while prosecutors review the indictment and decide the next steps.
Charges and Arrest
Court documents identify Gaeta as the defendant in an indictment listing negligent vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent vehicular manslaughter, and two counts of second-degree assault, according to CBS Baltimore. Prosecutors told reporters that Gaeta was served with an arrest warrant Friday morning and remained in custody at the Harford County Detention Center pending further review. The charges follow an investigation by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office that was presented to a grand jury earlier this week.
How the Crash Unfolded
According to investigators, the two C. Milton Wright students were stopped on MD-543 waiting to turn left onto Crescent Knoll Drive when another vehicle came up behind them and struck their car, pushing it directly into the path of the oncoming school bus, WBALTV reports. Maj. Lee Dunbar, bureau chief for police operations at the sheriff’s office, told reporters back in September, “We believe the at-fault vehicle hit our victims from behind at a high rate of speed.”
Deputies said students on the bus avoided serious injury, though several were taken to local hospitals as a precaution. The shock of the crash, however, was felt across the school community, even among those who walked away physically unharmed.
Community Response and Aftermath
As word spread about Elliott’s death, friends, classmates, and neighbors gathered for a candlelight vigil and built a growing roadside memorial at the crash scene. Classmates remembered Elliott as funny and athletic, according to local coverage by CBS Baltimore. Tributes and handwritten notes joined flowers and school colors along the roadside in the days after the crash.
Local businesses and online fundraising efforts quickly mobilized to support both families, including help with medical bills for the injured teen, who was flown to Shock Trauma from the scene and later released to continue recovery at home. School officials, facing a grieving student body, canceled after-school activities immediately following the crash while the investigation continued.
What Comes Next
Prosecutors have already put evidence in front of the grand jury, but an arraignment date does not yet appear in public electronic court records, according to local reporting by WMAR-2 News. Under Maryland law, manslaughter by vehicle through gross negligence is a felony that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Criminally negligent vehicular manslaughter is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to three years behind bars and a maximum $5,000 fine, as laid out in the Maryland Code.
At trial, prosecutors will have to convince a jury about the level of negligence involved before any conviction can be secured. For now, the case moves from the crash scene and candlelight vigils into the slower, more painstaking arena of the courtroom.
