Cops: Motorist swerves, wife falls out of pickup on Bucks highway; he's charged
Before the incident, the man had downed four beers and two tequilas in an hour after arguing with his wife about money.
A Bucks County man has been charged with swerving his pickup truck in such a way as to allow his wife to fall out of the vehicle on the Lincoln Highway in Falls Township, critically injuring her after a day of arguing about finances and downing four beers and two shot of tequila within an hour at a bar.
The woman, Robin Ryan, who also was run over by a trailer being pulled by the pickup, suffered a broken leg and serious head injuries during the incident about 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Her husband, Andrew L. Ryan, 31, of Warminster, has been charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, drunken driving and related offenses.
Police said Ryan told them he and his wife had been "bickering" about money all day when they stopped at a local bar for about an hour, consuming four beers and shots of Patron tequila during that time.
After leaving the bar, the argument intensified and Ryan pulled over in a driveway and told his wife to get out, police said. She did briefly and then returned to the pickup truck without closing the door tightly.
On Lincoln Highway (Business US 1), Ryan noticed his wife's door was not closed properly and he swerved "at a high rate of speed" to the side of the road, police said. Robin Ryan tumbled out and was run over by a landscaping trailer that was being pulled by the pickup.
Ryan drove off but was stopped a short time later by a state trooper on Trenton Road in Fairless Hills, police said.
Robin Ryan was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne, where she was placed in critical condition.
Ryan was remanded to the Bucks County Jail Tuesday, unable to post 10 percent of bail set at $200,000.