Police Arrest Drunken Driver Who Left Crash

The arrested a 61-year-old resident Tuesday for drunken driving and failure to stop at the scene of an accident after he drove through a stop sign at Kercheval and Washington, crashed into another motorist and drove away.

Tuesday's arrest is the man's third drunken driving arrest, which means it will likely be a felony rather than a misdemeanor offense.

The other motorist called police and said the man ran the stop sign, crashed into her car, then drove up on a sidewalk, through a fence, sideswiped a tree and continued driving north on Washington.

A responding officer put an alert out with the description of the vehicle—a red Mercedes Benz convertible. While gathering information from the victim, the officer found a red mirror cover that had come off the convertible during the crash, according to a report.

Emergency Medical Technicians were called to the scene to check the victim, who was not seriously injured, according to a report.

Harper Woods police spotted the vehicle near Manchester/Huntington and Arthur and a short time later it was found parked behind a business in the 19900 block of Harper Avenue. An employee of a nearby business saw the driver get out and walk away from the car.

During an inventory of the car, which was registered to a couple in Canton, officers found the man's business cards and his cell phone as listed on his business cards. The car smelled of alcohol. The nearby employee told officers the man was unsteady on his feet as he walked away.

Officers approached the man at his house, which was nearby, but he denied driving the vehicle and said he had just been before a judge in Third Circuit Court on a separate felony drunken driving charge the day before. The man smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his speech while talking with the officers, according to a report.

Officers interviewed the man's 90-year-old mother, who said he does drive a red Mercedes and allowed officers to check the garage for it as that is where she believed it to be at that time. They checked and the garage was empty.

The man refused to take any breath tests so officers received a warrant from City Judge Russell Ethridge to have his blood drawn and tested for alcohol.

Currently detectives have submitted warrant information to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and are awaiting approval of charges, Detective Alan Gwyn said. 
 
The man was preliminarily charged with failure to stop at the scene of a crash, operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol third offense and driving on a suspended license.

For questions on the police report, email sara.martin@patch.com.