State Police investigators said Thursday afternoon that 48-year-old John Quigg, of Glenside, had a blood alcohol level of 0.27%, which is more than three times the legal limit. Preliminary drug screenings were negative.
The accident happened shortly after 1:00 a.m. Wednesday in the eastbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway near the Spring Garden exit ramp.
Witnesses tell investigators that a Honda Accord, driven by Quigg, turned from Spring Garden Street onto the I-76 exit ramp and onto the Expressway going the wrong way.
Quigg, an off duty Pa. State Trooper, then continued west on the eastbound lanes of the Expressway, against the flow of traffic. His Honda then collided nearly head-on with a Mercury Marquis in the right lane.
Quigg and the operator of the Mercury, identified as Chantelle Harper, 23, of Philadelphia, were transported from the scene for medical treatment. Quigg was taken to Hahnemann Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Harper suffered a broken leg and ankle in the collision.
Back in January of this year, Quigg was slapped with drunken driving charges after crashing his car into a guardrail on Route 422 in Upper Merion on December 17, 2009.
Quigg, an accident reconstruction specialist based at the Belmont state police barracks in Philadelphia, was then reassigned to desk duty pending an investigation. He was due in court on Wednesday and reportedly completed a 30-day alcohol rehabilitation program earlier this year.
Harper is a recent graduate of Rosemont College and friends say she'd recently been accepted to law school.
The young woman was wearing her seatbelt and it likely saved her life, police said. Quigg was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash.
