Police took a Kingsley man into custody for allegedly driving drunk after they located his heavily damaged pickup truck on River Road shortly after 3 a.m. in East Bay Township on Dec. 6. The 27-year-old man, who was apprehended in a vehicle parked at a nearby hospital, faces charges of operating while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an injury accident.
According to the report, after the pickup truck crashed into a pole, it overturned and landed in a ditch by the side of the roadway. Police who spotted the truck pulled over to investigate the scene. Although they did not find the driver of the truck at the scene, they located some footprints that led them to the roadway where they concluded another vehicle had picked up several people.
During the investigation, a sheriff’s deputy learned that there was a 20-year-old woman from Buckley who was recuperating at the Munson Medical Center in Traverse City for injuries she said occurred in an all-terrain vehicle accident. However, when the deputy spoke with the injured female, she admitted that her injuries came from a crashed pickup truck in which she was an occupant. A short time later, police located the pickup truck driver in the hospital’s parking lot.
Michigan considers drunk driving a serious offense; therefore, drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or higher are considered intoxicated and can face a conviction of hefty fines, a license suspension, jail time and the installation of an ignition interlock device at the driver’s expense. For multiple OWI offenders, the penalties are stiffer. Moreover, the person’s car insurance rates will likely skyrocket. It may be in the best interest of a person facing similar circumstances to obtain legal counsel. An OWI defense attorney might challenge the evidence in the case that could result in the defendant’s penalties being mitigated or offer a plea bargain that could result in a lighter sentence for the client.
Source: MLive, “Drunken driver leaves crash scene, arrested at hospital where passenger treated, police say”, John Agar, December 08, 2014
