By Joe Dolinsky
The Times-Leader
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A teen accused of assaulting a man with a brick then leading police on a chase in a stolen ambulance last year was sentenced to two years probation after pleading no contest Friday to some of the charges.
Destiny Noella McNeil, 19, of Nanticoke, entered the plea on a single felony count each of theft, fleeing, and simple assault. Twelve additional charges, including two counts of aggravated assault, were withdrawn in exchange for her plea, court record show.
Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. accepted McNeil’s plea.
McNeil was immediately sentenced to serve two years probation under supervision of the Luzerne County Specialty Court team, which monitors and treats otherwise prison-bound offenders with documented mental health illnesses.
Moosic-based psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Berger testified at a hearing in July that McNeil suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations that caused her to believe she saw “demon shadows,” factors that led him to diagnose her with schizophrenia.
Berger had indicated the “voices” in her head had subdued, but “mild paranoid thoughts” remain.
Prosecutors say McNeil on Sept. 4, 2015, struck Timothy Yatsko with a brick on East State Street, Nanticoke, before fleeing in an ambulance parked about a block away. The girl allegedly led police on a pursuit and eventually crashed the emergency vehicle in Laurel Run, causing damage along the way.
McNeil was ordered to pay $45,116 in restitution to insurer Gladfelter Claims Management. She is to have no contact with Yatsko.
According to the affidavit, McNeil hit Yatsko hard enough to cause him to fall to the ground. The teen then fled in the emergency vehicle, hitting two parked cars on East State Street before making her way to Route 29 and eventually Interstate 81 north.
McNeil then made her way to Route 309, pursued by both Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre Township police, where she struck a township cruiser near the border between Wilkes-Barre Township and Laurel Run, the affidavit says.
While being pursued, McNeil, who was driving without a license, crashed on Northampton Street in Laurel Run. Wilkes-Barre Township Patrolman Robert Capparell said she eventually “spun out,” realizing she didn’t have anywhere to go. She was then apprehended.
Copyright 2016 The Times Leader