Crime & Safety
Police: Suspected Drunken Driver Eating Chinese Food Chops Up Apartment Complex
The incident took place Wednesday evening, police said.
March with the General.
Drink with the General.
Drive with the General.
Crash with the General.
A Vernon police report did not specifically outline the dish of choice as General Tsao's chicken, but it did indicate that a suspected drunken driver was eating Chinese food in his car while bashing his way home through the Mansions at Hockanum crossing on Wednesday.
He left a path of destruction en route to his garage, police said.
The initial calls about a reckless driver came in at 5:44 p.m.
Make that multiple calls, according to a police report, which indicated the car damaged a 375-foot area inside the apartment complex off Hockanum Boulevard.
The driver was identified in a police report as John Reuter Jr., 27, who lives in Unit 4001.
Police said as the car entered the complex after Reuter bought some Chinese food and was on his way home. It first knocked a fire hydrant from its stem, then traveled over a sidewalk and took out a cable TV utility box, police said.
The damage knocked out dinnertime TV for more than 500 of Reuter's neighbors, police said.
The car then hit an 8-foot tree and at some point the rear bumper and a wheel fell off the car, police said.
The car then went up a grassy hill, ran over another 8-foot tree and left an axle behind, but it managed to travel another half-mile to the garage of the unit, according to a police report.
That is where officers found and arrested Reuter after he failed a series of field sobriety tests, a police report indicates. Sauce from Chinese food was on his face and smeared all over the inside of the car, a police report indicates.
A breath test latest recorded his blood alcohol level at .149, which is over the legal limit, police said. A second test registered .156, police said, nearly double the legal limit.
Reuter was charged with driving under the influence, evading responsibility, and failure to maintain a proper lane, police said.
He posted a $1,500 bond and was assigned a court date of June 3, police said.
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