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Court appearance for driver accused of plowing through crowd in Berwick

Adrian Sura Reyes will head to trial on a long list of charges, including two counts of criminal homicide.

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — The man accused of driving his car into a crowd of people in Berwick this summer was in court on Thursday.

Adrian Sura Reyes will head to trial on a long list of charges, including two counts of criminal homicide.

Sura Reyes, 24, left the Columbia County Courthouse after a two-and-a-half-hour-long preliminary hearing.

The man from Nescopeck is accused of driving his car into a crowd of people in Berwick on August 13 and then killing his mother with a hammer.

"This was a chaotic incident that not only traumatized many families but an entire community," said Trooper Anthony Petroski, Pennsylvania State Police.

State police say Sura Reyes drove his vehicle into a crowd of people at the Intoxicology Department bar in Berwick in August.

One person died, and 17 people were hurt.

After that, investigators say Sura Reyes drove about two miles to his home in Nescopeck, Luzerne County. Troopers believe he hit his mother with the car and then beat her to death with a hammer.

Robert Seely lives next door to the Sura Reyes family and says he saw what happened. He said, "It was loud enough to know he meant business."

Around three dozen people attended the preliminary hearing. Surveillance video was shown from outside the Intoxicology Department. Some people left the courtroom, while others were visibly upset remembering what happened two months ago.

The videos showed the vehicle accelerating instead of slowing down or stopping.

Several law enforcement officers testified about the incidents, describing the Berwick scene as "chaos."

"It was one of, if not the worst, scene I was ever at," said Trooper Jason Zoshak. "We deal with a lot of bad things in law enforcement; we do. But to see this many bad things in one scene, it is unique. When I say unique, I mean in a horrific way. A lot of us, we have some time on the job here, and this is without a doubt one of the worst scenes we've ever seen."

Sura Reyes now faces trial on all charges against him.

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