Two drivers disobeyed fire police directing traffic on Monday around a serious Route 322 crash in Swatara Township, with one of them hitting an officer with their car, police said.

Route 322 east ( Paxton Street) shut down just after 3 p.m. Monday because of the two-vehicle crash between Mushroom Hill Road and Penhar Drive.

Around 4:15 p.m., a fire police officer was directing traffic at the bottom of the Paxton Street off-ramp, instructing drivers to turn right to go north on Penhar Drive.

That’s when, Swatara Township police say, Yolanda Cardona-Cintron, 43, of Harrisburg, pulled up in a white Hyundai Santa Fe and demanded to turn left to go south on Penhar.

An argument ensued and the fire police officer lightly smacked the hood of Cardona-Cintron’s SUV during the exchange, police said in an affidavit of probable cause.

Court documents said Cardona-Cintron then got out of her vehicle and shoved the officer several times in the chest. Another officer told her to pull over to the side of the road to await police, but instead she drove toward that officer and hit him in the knees, according to the affidavit.

Cardona-Cintron briefly stopped and opened her car door but then continued fleeing north on Penhar Drive, police said. She was last seen headed west on Paxton Street.

One of the fire police officers took a photo of her license plate before she fled, police said. A PennDOT search brought up Cardona-Cintron as one of the vehicle’s registered owners, police said, and fire police identified her as the person involved.

Neither officer was injured during the exchange.

About 20 minutes later, another fire police officer was directing traffic at the bottom of Mushroom Hill Road, with northbound drivers stopped so eastbound traffic on Route 322 could clear.

When the directing officer’s back was turned, an officer on the other side of the highway saw a silver Buick SUV driving north in the southbound lane of Mushroom Hill Road and going past stopped traffic, police said in court documents.

The SUV’s driver, Matthew Nehring, 34, of Camp Hill, initially backed up under fire police’s command, then started to pull forward until he was about to drive into the officer, police said. According to the affidavit, the officer hit Nehring’s SUV with his hands and pushed off the vehicle.

As the officer who was nearly hit moved to the passenger side of the SUV, another fire police officer ran to the front of Nehring’s vehicle, yelling at him to stop driving, the affidavit said.

But Nehring continued forward, almost hitting the second officer before veering to the right to go east on Route 322, the affidavit said.

A Swatara Township police corporal who responded to the initial 322 crash began looking for Nehring’s Buick after fire police reported the near-crash over the county radio, police said.

In the affidavit, Cpl. Christopher Smith wrote that he saw the Buick trying to turn around to go west on 322 near the Hummelstown exit. The Buick pulled over as Smith approached, the affidavit said.

Smith said in court documents that Nehring matched the description that fire police provided and identified him with his driver’s license.

Nehring asked Smith if he was the officer from the interaction down the highway, and Smith told him he was not, court documents said. According to the affidavit, Nehring said fire police told him he was going to get a citation, and he “obviously didn’t like that so he drove away.”

Route 322 east was shut down for several hours after the Monday afternoon crash, and one person was hospitalized.

Cardona-Cintron is at large as of Tuesday on a felony charge of aggravated assault, misdemeanor reckless endangerment and three summary offenses.

Nehring was arrested Monday and charged with two counts each of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, as well as five summary driving offenses.

As of Monday night, online court records show Nehring was unable to post $30,000 bail and was being held at Dauphin County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6 before Magisterial District Judge Kenneth Lenker.

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