CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield woman is facing aggravated assault, DUI and resisting arrest charges following a motor vehicle crash in Lawrence Township.
Police said Bobbi S. Yatsko, 32, caused the crash around 10:54 p.m. Jan. 5 because she was driving recklessly eastbound along the state Route 879 Bypass near the Clearfield Mall.
She reportedly lost control of her Saturn Outlook and struck a Chevrolet Silverado traveling westbound, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Both vehicles sustained disabling damage. The female passenger of the pickup truck was injured and transported to Penn Highlands Clearfield Hospital for treatment.
Police said Yatsko was “hysterical,” and as she sat on the ground speaking with a Clearfield-based state trooper, she was screaming and crying loudly.
Township Officer Devin Gill spoke with the truck’s occupants. The passenger reported having knee and shoulder pain and the driver complained of head pain, but he declined to be seen by EMS.
The driver also detailed the crash. As he traveled west, he saw an oncoming vehicle swerve at him. He tried to swerve away but said Yatsko still struck his truck, which then spun off the roadway.
Gill attempted to speak with Yatsko, who said she was following a semi when she hit her brakes. But then she started screaming and crying, and saying she didn’t remember what happened.
Yatsko’s husband arrived on-scene and asked Gill if they could have Yatsko sit in his vehicle and try to retrieve her anxiety medication from her vehicle. Gill agreed.
Unable to find her medication or purse with the passenger’s side door completely pushed over the seat, Gill had fire personnel pry open the driver’s side door.
Because there was broken glass everywhere and Yatsko’s husband didn’t have gloves, Gill indicated he would enter the driver’s side of Yatsko’s vehicle for him.
Gill was unable to retrieve any items from the passenger’s side, but as he exited, he reportedly observed a “Twisted Tea” alcoholic beverage can beside the driver’s seat.
Gill returned to Yatsko’s husband’s vehicle and knocked on the passenger’s side window. When Yatsko eventually rolled her window down, he asked if she’d been drinking.
Yatsko said no, claiming the Twisted Tea can was from another time, but as Gill spoke with her, he could reportedly detect a strong odor of alcohol.
When Gill asked Yatsko to exit the vehicle for field sobriety testing, he said she became hysterical and had to be asked multiple times to exit the vehicle.
Yatsko reportedly showed signs of impairment during the horizontal gaze nystagmus and walk-and-turn tests, and as Gill demonstrated the one leg stand Yatsko again became hysterical.
Gill tried to explain the test again, but Yatsko continued crying and he retrieved the portable breath test from his patrol unit. Once Yatsko saw it, she said she would do the test and understood.
During the one leg stand, Yatsko showed signs of impairment, as she reportedly lost her balance, began to fall multiple times and had to be told to count aloud.
Gill also made attempts to administer the breath test, but when Yatsko cried and wouldn’t blow properly into the PBT, he advised she was under arrest, which caused her to become irate.
She reportedly resisted by trying to pull her hands away; two officers assisted Gill with cuffing Yatsko, who was warned if her behavior continued, she’d be charged with resisting arrest.
As she resisted, she urinated on Gill’s leg as he cuffed her and spit in a female officer’s face as she was being put in the patrol unit, according to the affidavit.
She also kicked Gill in his chest and then again in his face, which left a red mark, police said. Yatsko was transported to the township police station but refused to get out.
Gill physically pulled Yatsko from his unit and placed her in a holding cell. Refusing to sit down, Yatsko reportedly spit in the female officer’s face a second time and began fighting with officers.
When Gill pushed Yatsko’s face away from officers so she couldn’t spit on them, she began kicking at them, and she had to be restrained for her leg to be shackled.
Yatsko reportedly began to bite Gill’s fingers, and once she was shackled, officers backed away, at which point she spit at the female officer for a third time.
When she screamed and mocked officers, they left, but Gill later returned to read a consent form. Yatsko screamed “[expletive] you” the whole time, refusing the legal blood draw, police said.
Yatsko was transported to Penn Highlands Clearfield Hospital for medical clearance and was then housed in Clearfield County Jail on charges.
Yatsko is charged with four felony counts of aggravated assault, misdemeanor resisting arrest, reckless endangerment (two counts), disorderly conduct and DUI, plus three summaries.
Yatsko waived her right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday during centralized court. Her bail was also lowered from $100,000 to $50,000 monetary.
