Man sentenced to 3 years for crash that killed Bel Air high school student, hurt another

HARFORD COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) — A 39-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for his involvement in a September 2025 crash that killed a Bel Air high school student and seriously injured another, the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office announced.

John Gaeta, 39, was indicted back in February 2026 on charges of negligent vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent vehicular manslaughter, and two counts of second-degree assault.

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On Sept. 18, 2025, authorities were called to Route 543 and Crescent Knoll Drive for a crash involving a Harford County Public School bus, officials said.

Evidence presented at trial proved that 17-year-old Zachary Griffin was lawfully stopped on northbound Route 543 to turn left onto Crescent Knoll Drive. Blake Elliott, 16, was Griffin’s passenger. Both were students at C. Milton Wright High School.

Gaeta was driving northbound on Route 543 and failed to avoid hitting Griffin’s vehicle, pushing the teens into the southbound lane where they were struck by a school bus.

Both teens were extricated from the vehicle. Griffin was transported by the Maryland State Police’s Aviation Command unit to Shock Trauma. He spent 11 days there with serious injuries. Elliott was extricated later and taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office’s Crash Team found in its investigation that there was no pre-impact braking by Gaeta’s vehicle.

After search warrants were executed on the vehicle’s airbag control module and cellular phone, data confirmed that in the five seconds before the crash, Gaeta didn’t use his brakes or steer to avoid the collision.

In the 371 feet traveled by Gaeta during those five seconds, his speed decreased by six seconds — from 53 mph to 47 mph — striking the vehicle at a “significant speed,” the state’s attorney’s office said.

Data from the defendant’s cell phone showed that he immediately started using his phone after leaving work that September afternoon at the Arena Club, using three applications — Her A.I., Instagram and Chess.com — for the entire drive until 38 seconds before the crash when the last app closed. But, Gaeta’s phone was found to be unlocked and with the screen illuminated at the time of the crash, authorities said.

Video evidence showed that Gaeta grabbed his cell phone right after the collision. Officials said the first thing he did was manipulate his phone and then lock it.

“From the start of the Defendant’s drive, the phone was only locked after the collision, and as Judge Allman said in his ruling, became a passenger in his own vehicle,” the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office said via press release.

On August 17, 2026, Gaeta was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by law of three years to serve in the Division of Corrections.

Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey said she believes the current laws related to negligence while operating a vehicle that results in death need reconsideration and correction.

“The language in these statutes is far too vague. There do not address distracted driving resulting in death. They do not address criminal and gross negligence that results in life threatening injury, and most importantly, the maximum sentences are far too lenient,” Healey said via press release.

“I can in no way say that this is absolutely justice because no parent should stand in a courtroom and hear that their daughter’s life can only be punished by 3 years. It’s simply not enough,” she added.

Healey said she’s already started working with Del. Mike Griffith to begin work to address these concerns with the Maryland General Assembly during the next legislative session.

Watch the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office announce the sentencing of John Gaeta at the video above