DUBOIS – A St. Marys man is facing charges following a traffic accident.
According to an affidavit t of probable cause filed with District Judge Patrick Ford’s office April 10, Louis Edward Dill, 28, 1066 Million Dollar Hwy., St. Marys, is charged by the DuBois-based state police with driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, driving at unsafe speeds, careless driving, restrictions on alcoholic beverages and two summary traffic charges.
According to the affidavit, state troopers were dispatched to a vehicle, which had rolled over on Route 255/Bennetts Valley Highway in Huston Township March 3. When the troopers arrived, they learned that the driver of the vehicle had left the area but returned and was being transported to Penn Highlands DuBois via ambulance.
As officers investigated the accident, they allegedly found about 17 cans of alcohol inside the vehicle. They also found tracks in the snow where the driver allegedly got out of the vehicle and began to walk through the snow along Route 255, then headed west, before returning to the road.
Witnesses to the accident said the vehicle involved in the crash had passed them just before the accident, coming downhill in a no-passing zone. When the witness arrived at the accident, the driver was not there.
The troopers then went to the hospital and spoke with the driver, later identified as Dill. Dill allegedly told police that he had been at his grandmother’s and was returning home. He allegedly told police he must have hit some black ice and the vehicle slid across the road and into a ditch, before it rolled over.
The troopers could smell alcohol coming from Dill and he allegedly told them that he had four beers over the course of four hours.
When asked why he left, Dill allegedly told the troopers that he was going to go to a friend’s house who lived nearby. He said he was walking through the snow and heard the sirens. He said he stopped but no one saw him, so he walked back to the crash.
Blood-alcohol testing showed Dill had a BAC of 0.176 at the time of the accident.