Authorities were dispatched to the area of 1st Avenue and 8th Street in the early morning hours of February 2, 2020 in reference to the report of a motor vehicle collision. When a Safford officer arrived on the scene at approximately 2:30 a.m. he was approached by two people. One of them told the officer that the driver of the vehicle that had crashed had handed him the keys to his car. The man said that the driver was still seated in the car.
The vehicle was traveling north on 1st Avenue had apparently failed to negotiate the slight bend in the road as he approached the intersection at Highway 70. The vehicle had traveled through intersection at 1st Avenue and 8th Street and crashed into some storage units on the east side of the road.
According to the police report, the entire front third of the vehicle was inside the storage units and was covered with items from inside the units. The vehicle was smoking and steaming. The officer approached the driver’s side door and opened it. The driver was sitting in the seat, sobbing. The vehicle’s airbags had deployed and the vehicle was full of airbag smoke.
The officer asked the driver if he was okay. The man said, ‘no.’ The officer rephrased the question and asked if the man was hurt physically. The man said that he was not hurt and declined medical evaluation. The man told the officer that the car belonged to his parents. The officer asked what had happened. The driver replied that he didn’t know. The officer asked the man to get out of the vehicle. The man appeared to be so intoxicated that he could barely stand on his feet.
The officer asked the driver how much he had to drink. The man said that he was 21 years old and that he had been to a bar. He said that he had 6 or 7 beers as well as a few other drinks at the bar. The officer asked him to rate his level of intoxication on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being extremely drunk. The man rated himself a 9. He didn’t know which direction he was traveling when the accident occurred and he was unable to remember where he was going. He did not know how the accident happened.
After failing several field sobriety tests, the man was placed under arrest. He was transported to the Safford Police Department, where blood was drawn. He was administered a portable breath test, which indicated his BAC was .267.
The man was released from custody into the care of his father. The vehicle was towed from the scene.
