A former Altoona police officer and his wife are facing charges after investigators say the couple tried to cover up which of them was driving when their Jeep crashed into a pole. Police allege the officer was the one behind the wheel, drunk, and that his wife took the blame to keep him out of trouble at work. Both are now charged with DUI and a string of offenses tied to the alleged cover-up.
The crash happened in the early morning in 2025 when officers were called to a Jeep Grand Cherokee that had hit a utility pole in Altoona. According to the criminal complaint, Robert Hayes, 30, told police his wife Bethany, 33, had been driving. He said the tires were bald and that she’d slid down a hill into the pole. Because Robert worked for the Altoona Police Department, a sergeant from the force was assigned to lead the investigation.
Bethany was given a field sobriety test, arrested on a DUI charge, and taken for a blood draw. The account started to fall apart a couple of days later. Police say members of the department told their chief that the couple had actually left a party that night in separate vehicles before the crash. Based on that, investigators came to believe Robert had been driving the Jeep, and that Bethany had taken the blame so he wouldn’t face consequences at his job.
Investigators say a search of Robert’s phone turned up text messages in which the couple worked out the details of their story before talking to police. In another exchange, court documents allege, Bethany suggested Robert tell a lawyer he had a drinking problem so he wouldn’t be fired. Both are now charged with several misdemeanors, including obstruction, tampering with evidence, and hindering apprehension, along with DUI.
The police department has said it’s aware of the charges and that the matter is under internal review, and both individuals remain presumed innocent.
What the Charges Actually Mean
Most of the counts have nothing to do with the crash itself. Obstructing the administration of law, tampering with evidence, and hindering apprehension all describe ways of interfering with a police investigation. In plain terms, the charges accuse the couple of feeding officers a false story about who was driving. Each is a misdemeanor, and the complaint lists several of them between the two of them.
The DUI charge is at the center of all of it. On its own, a first-offense DUI in Pennsylvania is a relatively common misdemeanor that many people resolve without jail. The allegations here suggest the bigger problem wasn’t the drinking and driving, but the effort to hide who did it. That distinction is what turned one charge into a much longer list.
Why an Alleged Cover-Up Draws Extra Scrutiny
If the allegations are proven in court, the case is a textbook example of a cover-up creating more trouble than the original problem. A single DUI is one thing. A string of charges accusing two people of lying to police and coordinating a story is another, and far harder to undo. Today’s phone forensics is a big reason these efforts unravel, since the text messages investigators describe became evidence of their own.
There’s an added layer when a police officer is involved. A DUI is a personal matter, but allegations of dishonesty cut at the public trust a badge is supposed to carry, which is why the department has pointed to an internal review. No one was hurt in the crash itself, and the pole took the worst of it. What the couple does face now is a court process that will test whether the cover-up police describe actually happened.