A 41-year-old Philomath man who overnight crashed off North 19th Street into the entrance of a manufactured home community faces drunken driving charges, Philomath Police reported.
Police and emergency medical services personnel were dispatched to a single-vehicle crash at just after midnight Tuesday.
Heading south on North 19th just past the West Hills Road curve, the vehicle reportedly first crashed into a power pole north of the Forest Meadows entrance, which damaged the feeder lines and caused an outage for several residents, Philomath Fire and Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Rich Saalsaa said. The vehicle then crossed the entrance and destroyed the residential community’s sign and a stop sign before damaging a natural gas metering device.
“The vehicle sustained major front-end damage and the windshield was cracked when a bowling ball was thrown forward from the interior of the truck,” Saalsaa said.
Saalsaa said the driver escaped the crash with no injuries
Philomath Police arrested the driver on misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants and reckless driving. Chief of Police Dave Gurski said the investigation showed the man’s blood alcohol content at .21%.
The driver could face more charges.
“We’re still investigating it for criminal mischief for the damage that was caused to the trailer park at Forest Meadows,” Gurski said.
Once estimates are determined on the damage caused by the crash, an appropriate level of criminal mischief will be levied against the driver.
“I would expect it’s probably going to take a week or two before we get the damage estimates to figure out what level of criminal mischief we’re going to charge,” Gurski said.
Philomath Fire and Rescue responded to the crash with an engine crew of three and a duty officer.
NW Natural and Consumers Power Inc. sent repair crews to the scene.