Indiana state man arrested after two-vehicle crash in Altoona
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, Elkhart, Indiana, was taken into custody by Altoona police Saturday morning after a violent two-vehicle crash at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. Vehicle pieces littered the block where a tree and light pole were knocked down. The crash occurred about 9:30 a.m. with traffic rerouted to nearby streets. Mirror photo by Kay Stephens
Trending
An Indiana state man is behind bars after allegedly stealing a pickup truck and crashing it into another vehicle, a light pole and a tree about 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Tristian Kendall Geurian, 25, of Elkhart, Indiana, is being held in the Blair County Prison without bail after the Saturday morning crash in the area of 17th Street and Seventh Avenue in Altoona.
Geurian was arraigned Saturday before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones on felony charges of theft of a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm, receiving stolen property, fleeing police, criminal mischief and escape, along with misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person, loitering and prowling at night, and summary traffic violations.
Bail was denied, court documents state, because "this court believes the defendant is a safety risk to others."
According to Altoona police, state police reported that a pickup truck was stolen near Williamsburg and the truck's owner was tracking the vehicle with an app, which placed the vehicle in the area of 17th Street and Seventh Avenue in Altoona.
Officers found the truck at First Avenue and 17th Street and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Police said the driver fled, leading officers on an eight-block pursuit, which ended when the truck ran a red light at 17th Street and Ninth Avenue and collided with another vehicle. The truck then struck a light pole and a tree before coming to a stop.
The driver, identified as Geurian, was transported to UPMC for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The driver of the other vehicle was not injured.
The pickup's owner told police he had kept a handgun inside the truck. Officers recovered the firearm from the vehicle.
Geurian is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 26 before Jones.
Police said Geurian has multiple arrest warrants from Indiana and Illinois.
According to online court records, he also has had multiple cases against him in Pennsylvania dating back to a misdemeanor charge of possessing a weapon on school property, filed in 2019 in Cambria County.
In that case, Geurian pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months to 23 months in the county prison, with a variety of court conditions, including that he was not permitted on any school grounds in Cambria County, including the Greater Johnstown Area School District. He was also deemed eligible for a re-entry program, was required to undergo mental health and drug/alcohol treatment and maintain employment, among others.
Due to numerous court filings and parole violations, that case remains ongoing, with the latest action being filed in July ordering Geurian to be released into inpatient residential treatment.
In January, in Venango County, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of receiving stolen property and a misdemeanor count of identity theft. In that case, he received a negotiated sentence of a minimum of five months to two years minus a day.