Burks arrested for vehicular homicide

A Muhlenberg Township man was impaired by a mixture of alcohol and illegal drugs and was driving the wrong way on Route 422 when his car crashed into an oncoming vehicle in Douglas Township near the Montgomery County line, killing a Redding woman, a criminal complaint says. .

Varun Kumar, 28, of the 800 block of Georgia Avenue, was taken into custody Monday by Muhlenberg police on a warrant from Douglas police.

Kumar was held in Berks County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail pending a post-arraignment hearing Monday evening before District Judge Andrea J. Beech at Reading Central Court.

Douglas police charged him Aug. 16 with vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, driving the wrong way and related traffic violations as a result, court records show. accident on June 3, as a result of which 46-year-old Alisha Veglinski died.

According to the probable cause affidavit:

Weglinski was heading west on Route 422, also known as the Pottstown Bypass, when the crash happened around 1:30 a.m. on the Berks side of the Montgomery County line.

Weglinski was pronounced dead at 4:37 a.m. by Berks County Deputy Coroner Joseph Potering.

Kumar was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The crash closed the westbound lanes of the Stow exit in West Pottsgrove Township for about 4 1/2 hours.

State police from the Reading station assisted Douglas police in the investigation.

The paramedic who took Kumar to the hospital said Kumar stated, “I was driving home from D.C. and this car was going the wrong way and hit me.”

Witnesses, however, reported seeing a dark sedan, identified as Kumar, traveling eastbound, in the wrong direction, in the westbound lanes. One woman said she was on her way home from Philadelphia International Airport. She was in the right westbound lane and saw a sedan pass her from the opposite side in the left lane.

She and her passenger told police that a man was driving.

Investigators obtained a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Kumar. Laboratory studies have identified metabolites of THC, which is the chemical responsible for the psychological effects of marijuana, as well as methamphetamine.

Weglinski worked at the Early Learning Center in Sonata as a certified teacher’s aide and at Family Caregiver Network, also in Montgomery County, as a home aide, her obituary said.