MIDDLESEX TWP — A teenager has been charged with drugged driving in a two-vehicle crash this summer on Route 8 that left the other driver a quadriplegic.

Gina M. Machi, 18, of Gibsonia accompanied by her attorney on Wednesday turned herself in to authorities for arraignment on felony and other charges.

Machi was impaired by marijuana and anti-anxiety medication Aug. 25 when her car collided with a pickup truck, Middlesex Township police said in charging documents.

The pickup driver, 73-year-old Joseph Smithco of suburban Pittsburgh, remains hospitalized with a battery of injuries severe enough that police have been unable to speak with him.

“He’s paralyzed, a quadriplegic,” said township Patrolman Conrad Pfeifer. “It was a bad crash. He’s in bad shape.”

Investigators said Smithco was pulling out of the south entrance of the Cogo’s parking lot about 11 a.m. when Machi’s 2002 southbound Mercedes sport utility vehicle slammed into the driver’s side of his 2000 Chevy S-10 truck.

The collision was so violent, Pfeifer said, that Smithco was thrown out of his truck between the driver’s door frame and roof.

“He was thrown all the way across the road,” Pfeifer said. “He landed 65 feet from his vehicle.”

A paramedic for 30 years, Pfeifer knew right away the severity of Smithco’s injuries.

A medical helicopter landed in the middle of Route 8 and flew him to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh.

“He was conscious when he left but he became unconscious later,” Pfeifer said of Smithco. “He remained unconscious for about a week.”

Machi was partially ejected from her vehicle, which ended on its passenger side. Bystanders saw her leg sticking from under the passenger door and rushed to get her out.

She was hurt, too. Pfeifer said she suffered a broken pelvis and fractured ankle. She was taken by ambulance and treated at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

While looking through the SUV for ownership papers, Pfeifer noticed a small container of suspected marijuana wax, an empty stamp bag of suspected heroin and an electronic cigarette.

Marijuana wax is the product of extracting THC, the hallucinogenic chemical in marijuana, from the cannabis, which authorities say provides the user with a more potent high.

Police later obtained a search warrant to test Machi’s blood taken at the hospital.

While waiting for toxicology results, police spoke to Machi at an Allegheny County rehabilitation facility.

She told investigators that on the day of the wreck she was “in a hurry to get to work”and estimated she was traveling 60 mph, a police affidavit said. The road there is posted 45 mph.

The teen remembered another SUV pulling out to her right moments before she hit Smithco’s pickup.

Questioned about the suspected drugs and other evidence found in her vehicle, Machi admitted previously using the e-cigarette to inhale the marijuana wax, police said.

But, the affidavit said, she denied smoking marijuana the day of the crash. She claimed she had quit smoking the drug a week before.

She told police the empty heroin bag belonged to a friend, who was recently riding in her SUV.

Investigators on Sept. 11 received Machi’s toxicological reports, which showed the presence of marijuana and the anti-anxiety medications nordiazepam, oxazepam and temazepam in her system, documents said.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Machi on a felony charge of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

She is free on $5,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is set Nov. 12. at Haggerty’s office in Saxonburg.

Machi’s attorney, David Cercone of Pittsburgh, declined to comment on the charges but he vowed to provide “a vigorous defense” in the case.

“This accident occurred at a very bad intersection where a fatality happened just three days earlier,” Cercone said this morning.

He also argued his client “had the right of way” when Smithco pulled out in front of her.