Driver, 88 & Drunk On Vodka, Leaves Path Of Destruction With Pickup Truck

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CHARLESTOWN - An 88-year-old local man who smashed into several occupied cars Monday as he was presumably headed home faces a number of criminal charges, including driving while intoxicated.

Police report Eino M. Wiitala, of 15A Lauri Drive was allegedly intoxicated, disoriented, and apparently unaware of the destruction he left in his path when police found him in his damaged pickup truck on Route 2.

Wiitala was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated; two counts of hit-and-run to an attended vehicle and resisting arrest. He also was charged with several traffic violations, including failure to submit to a chemical test to determine intoxication and a laned-roadway violation.

He was held overnight at the police station, police said, due in part to his level of intoxication and aggressive behavior. There were, however, no injuries reported in the incidents.

Wiitala was arraigned Tuesday morning and released on $5,000 personal recognizance. He will be scheduled to appear in traffic court on the traffic violations.

The incident began at about 5 p.m., when the police department received "numerous" 911 calls about a pickup truck traveling northbound in the southbound lane on Route 2. A subsequent 911 caller reported that his car had been sideswiped by a pickup truck traveling in the oncoming lane. Another caller reported the truck had sideswiped another vehicle striking its side mirror.

A short time later, a caller informed Charlestown police dispatch that the vehicle had crashed into embankment at the intersection of Route 2 and Shannock Road. Police said the truck had crossed the southbound lane on Route 2 and struck an embankment.

A patrolman reported helping Wiitala out of the "wrecked pickup" concerned about a potential vehicle fire. Police said the elderly man appeared unaware of what had just occurred. The reported noted that, as he conversed with police, he twice reached down in an attempt to pick up a vodka bottle and finally picked it up and threw it in the cab of his truck.

Police said Wiitala was apparently trying to get home, but was headed in the wrong direction having passed the road that would lead to Lauri Drive.

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articles/2005/12/14/news/news5.txt

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