Phoenixville Man Charged With DUI After Bridge Street Crash

A 29-year-old Phoenixville man faces DUI charges after police say he caused a two-car accident near the intersection of Bridge and Starr streets over the weekend.

According to court documents, Phoenixville Police responded to the scene of a reported accident and saw an extensively damaged red Ford Taurus sitting between two light poles on the north side of Bridge Street shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.

The driver, sitting on a nearby curb, told police that he had just left his wife’s residence and was on his way home. He went on to explain that as he approached the intersection of Bridge and Starr he intended to make a right on to Bridge, but the car ahead of him did not go when the light turned green, so he crashed into it, court documents say. The driver added that he, for reasons he didn’t enumerate, then got out of his vehicle without putting it in park, allowing it to drift through the intersection and come to rest in the front yard of a home on the unit block of Bridge Street.

While the man explained the details of the accident, police say they noticed he smelled like alcohol and was unsteady on his feet. When police asked him if he had been drinking, they say he admitted that he had four drinks earlier in the night.

The defendant took and failed a series of field sobriety tests, was transported to Phoenixville Hospital to have blood drawn for testing, and was ultimately charged with four counts of DUI, and additional charges of driving at an unsafe speed, careless driving, and leaving a vehicle unattended. He faces preliminary hearing on March 28.