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Robert Wade Norwood, 21, of Hagerstown was the passenger in the car that crashed, the driver, a Hagerstown white 16-year-old boy, will not have his name released, per Pennsylvania State Police policy on releasing minor's names.
The teenage driver has been identified click here to read our report.
The duo reportedly were seen breaking into vehicles and thought to be stealing from them in the 9000 block of Lindale Avenue in Antrim Township, Greencastle around 12:52 a.m. on Dec. 20.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers arrived to investigate but instead, they found the pair fleeing in a green Jeep SUV.
Then a chase began down Oellig Road. When they tried to make a traffic stop, the duo decided to take their Jeep off-roading — zooming across "multiple farm fields and properties at a high rate of speed."
That is until they came to a 30-foot-tall embankment, as seen on Google Maps. The Jeep splashed down in a shallow body of water, according to PSP.
"Due to the dangerous conditions, EMS, local fire department and water rescue units were summoned to the scene. Two males were located deceased in the vehicle," Trooper Frazer stated in the release.
When Robert was 17, in early 2020, he was charged by Hagerstown police after they found him at an old hospital parking deck with "two loaded handguns and capsules that contained fentanyl," the police release stated.
Details about what happened to the case once it was transferred to the Circuit Court are not immediately clear, Daily Voice has reached out to the clerk for more information.
Daily Voice also reached out to both of the victims' families and Robert's sister Alyssa Rabasco sent us the following statement reading in full:
"There were no stolen items found in the car we were told, and they tried to call 911 after they hit the embankment and fell in the water. The police stood by and waited for rescue team for almost an hour, never even attempting to rescue them out of the vehicle they drowned in the vehicle.
And yes, I am the paralegal at the law firm that represented my brother on his juvenile charges, and he beat is juvenile charges, and no longer has a juvenile record and he does not have an adult record. And they think that the two individuals were stealing stuff out of cars, but they can’t prove it. Nothing in the car was stolen and when they tried to pull him over, they were already in the vehicle driving south bound they were not at the crime scene where anything was apparently stolen or near the cars that were were apparently being broken into."
Robert turned 21-years-old on Dec. 15, 2023. You can read more about him and the teen was with here.
An investigation led by PSP Gettysburg is ongoing.
Editor's Note: This article was updated twice. Once to include the passenger's name and the second time to include the statement from his sister.
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