Driver Sentenced In Crash That Killed Harford Co. High Schooler

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — The man convicted of causing a deadly crash involving a C. Milton Wright High School student has been sentenced.

Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey held a news conference Monday afternoon to announce that John Anthony Gaeta, 39, received the maximum sentence of three years. He was convicted in June of criminally negligent manslaughter in the Sept. 18, 2025, crash.

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Zach Griffin, 17, was critically injured in that crash while 16-year-old soccer standout Blake Elliott, also a student at C. Milton Wright High School, was killed.

Prosecutors for the Harford County State's Attorney's Office said evidence proved Gaeta rear-ended the car Griffin was driving. Griffin was lawfully stopped on northbound Route 543, waiting to turn left onto Crescent Knoll Drive. Gaeta was driving northbound on 543 and rear-ended Griffin's vehicle, pushing it into the Route 543 southbound lane where it was then hit by a school bus.

Both Griffin and Elliott were trapped inside the vehicle. Griffin was extricated first and flown by the Maryland State Police's Aviation Command unit to Shock Trauma. Griffin spent 11 days in Shock Trauma with serious injuries.

Elliott was extricated next and taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, Patch reported previously.

Investigators had determined that Gaeta didn't apply his brakes before the crash. Data from his car confirmed that in the five seconds before the collision, Gaeta did not use his brakes or steer his vehicle to avoid rear-ending Griffin's vehicle, Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey said during the news conference.

In fact, time distance calculations showed that he drove 371 feet during those five seconds and only decreased from 53 mph to 47 mph during that time, she noted.

Data logs from his cell phone proved that Gaeta was using his phone after leaving work that afternoon at the Arena Club, using three applications – Her A.I., Instagram and Chess.com – for the entire drive until 38 seconds before collision when the last app closed, Patch reported previously.

His phone was determined to be unlocked and with the screen illuminated at the time of collision, Healey said during the news conference.

During the hearing on Monday, Gaeta apologized for what had happened and said he was "completely heartbroken."

Healey said the sentence emphasizes that drivers should never be on their phones.

"This maximum sentence is a swift and certain message to those driving on the roads of Harford County to get off your cell phones and avoid other distractions while you are driving, but the allowable consequences in this case are simply not enough," Healey said.

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