A suspended Penn State student who was charged with vehicular homicide after a fatal crash last month in State College posted $3 million bail and was released from the Centre County Correctional Facility on Wednesday, according to court records.
Ahmed M. Alqubaisi, 20, posted a surety bond one week after Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine set bail terms based on an agreement between the prosecution and defense.
Per the bail conditions, Alqubaisi could not be released from jail until he was fitted with a GPS device. He was required to surrender his passport and visa, cannot leave Centre County and cannot operate a motor vehicle.
A district judge previously denied bail when Alqubaisi was charged following the Sept. 12 crash that killed pedestrian Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre, a 25-year-old Penn State graduate student from Sweden. A State College police detective wrote in an affidavit of probable cause that Alqubaisi, a citizen of United Arab Emirates, posed a flight risk because he is suspended from the university and has no other ties to Pennsylvania.
Alqubaisi was driving at an unsafe speed in the westbound lane on the 200 block of East Park Avenue at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 12 when he lost control of his 2024 BMW M3, according to the affidavit. He crossed into the eastbound traffic lane and onto the sidewalk, where he hit Arnesson-Cronhamre, who was jogging at the time.
The impact of the crash threw Arnesson-Cronhamre about 80 feet, police wrote. She was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center and then flown to UPMC-Altoona, where she died from her injuries at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 12. A doctoral student from Sweden who was studying architectural engineering, Arnesson-Cronhamre suffered a brain bleed, broken neck, shattered right arm and broken left foot.
Alqubaisi, according to the affidavit, had a learner’s permit and did not have a licensed driver in the vehicle with him at the time of the crash.
Police wrote that he was driving at “a higher rate of speed than would be deemed safe in that area,” in the rain on a wet road adjacent to the University Park campus. Investigators have not said exactly how fast he was believed to be driving.
Surveillance video footage showed Alqubaisi’s car enter “an uncontrolled state” as he neared the area where Arnesson-Cronhamre was jogging, according to the affidavit. Alqubaisi made a sudden turn into the opposing eastbound lane, went over the curb, struck a standpipe and knocked down a light pole.
Arnesson-Cronhamre was then hit by the passenger door side of the car, which subsequently struck a tree and rotated 360 degrees before coming to rest.
The Centre County Crash Reconstruction Team determined that Alqubaisi’s speed based on weather and road conditions was an important factor in the crash, which occurred in an area with heavier vehicle and pedestrian traffic because of its proximity to the Penn State campus. Investigators also noted Alqubaisi’s limited driving experience.
Police said neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to be a factor in the crash.
In addition to felony homicide by vehicle, Alqubaisi is charged with misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person, as well as summary offenses of careless driving causing unintentional death and driving at an unsafe speed.
He waived a preliminary hearing on Sept. 27. Formal arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 25.
