A 35-year-old Newark, New Jersey man died Wednesday night after leading Pennsylvania State Police on a chase that sent his pickup truck the wrong way down Route 22 before a trooper's PIT maneuver flipped it into a grassy embankment in Bethlehem Township. Juan Diaz was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at a local hospital, and investigators are now trying to track down his relatives.
According to Daily Voice, the chase began at approximately 9:51 p.m. Wednesday after a trooper stopped a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado near mile marker 324.3 on Route 22 East in Hanover Township. Police said Diaz initially pulled over, then drove off, and soon began driving east in the highway's westbound lanes — sending his truck directly into oncoming traffic as the pursuit continued.
The pursuing trooper used a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, near mile marker 330.9 in Bethlehem Township, causing the truck to overturn into a grassy area, per the same account. The crash happened at approximately 10:12 p.m., Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio said. Diaz was ejected from the truck and pronounced dead at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg at 10:52 p.m., according to the coroner's office.
Coroner Searching for Diaz's Family
Buglio's office said Diaz may also be known as Jose J. Diaz Sanchez, and that his last known address was in Newark. WFMZ-TV 69News reports the coroner's office is actively trying to find and notify Diaz's family or next of kin. Anyone with information about his identity or relatives is asked to contact the Lehigh County Coroner's Office at 610-782-3426 or [email protected].
An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday to help determine Diaz's cause of death, the coroner's office said. The Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Major Case Team and the Lehigh County Coroner's Office are jointly investigating the crash.
Highway Reopened After Overnight Closure
The stretch of Route 22 in Bethlehem Township was closed during the crash investigation, and all traffic detours were lifted at approximately 5:25 a.m. Thursday, according to the report.
This isn't the first time a Route 22 pursuit has turned into a wrong-way scare in the Lehigh Valley. In March 2013, state police chased Daniel R. Ranallo after he fled a stop, and he too ended up driving east on the westbound shoulder before troopers used a PIT maneuver to stop him, according to lehighvalleylive.com. A state police captain told the outlet that every pursuit is evaluated by officers and supervisors, saying, “If we think the risks outweigh the reward, we can terminate the pursuit.”
That same report recalled a far more tragic outcome on Route 22 in Palmer Township, where a fleeing driver's truck slammed into 31-year-old Jolene LaBar's car during rush hour in August 2008, killing her. Her husband later sued two townships alleging police negligence in the pursuit, though a federal judge dismissed that case in early 2011.
Pursuits on Route 22 aren't rare occurrences in the region. In a separate incident, state police said 50-year-old Paulo Silva fled a traffic stop after being told of an outstanding warrant for fleeing and eluding, and troopers again used a PIT maneuver to stop his vehicle on the highway, according to WFMZ.com. Silva suffered only minor injuries in that case, was evaluated and released from a hospital, then taken to Lehigh County Prison.
Statewide, Pennsylvania police officers reported 2,718 pursuits in 2022, according to the state's Police Pursuit Reporting System, though that figure reflects a single year and doesn't establish a broader trend. The system notes that the Vehicle Code requires departments to record and report all vehicle pursuits to state police for collection and analysis.
