BELMONT — A Freetown man has been charged with two misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated after police say he crashed his truck on Gilmore Ridge Road June 17 and left the scene.
Officers were dispatched to the 6000 block for an overturned vehicle in the wood line along the road, but the caller was unable to find anyone around the vehicle, says an accident report by Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Stargell.
The 2001 Chevrolet S-10 was on the driver’s side on the west side of the road. Stargell was able to determine by the marks on the road that the truck was northbound when the rear tires lost traction, causing the vehicle to spin out, cross the center line and strike several small trees on the west side of the road after overturning one-and-a-half times, the report states.
While taking photographs of the scene, a man — later identified as Zachary S. Randall, 36 — wearing shorts and no shirt, walked toward Stargell from the south.
Randall said he was driving the truck after being in the water with his friends all day, and he was driving north when a deer ran out in front of him. He missed the first deer, but a fawn ran out afterward and he swerved to miss it, causing him to lose control of his truck, the report said.
Stargell reported smelling alcohol on Randall. He said he had five shots of vanilla whiskey while on the water. Randall said the crash happened around 7 p.m. and that he had stopped drinking at around 1 p.m. He said his friends left at 4 p.m., but he stayed around to sober up.
Randall said he was “wandering around” when he left the scene of the crash.
A breath test at the scene showed his blood-alcohol content to be 0.14, almost twice the legal limit, the report said.
While at the Brown County Law Enforcement Center, Randall said his back was hurting and an ambulance was dispatched to perform a check-out, but Randall refused further treatment.
On June 18, Randall was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated — endangering a person, Class A misdemeanor; and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, Class C misdemeanor.
