A 37-year-old Berea man was arrested after witnesses watched him drive a Honda Accord over curbs and through two front yards on Boulder and Slate drives on Sept. 1, dragging a car that was already falling apart beneath him. By the time it rolled to a stop, the Accord had a fallen-off front wheel, inflated airbags and fluids leaking onto the pavement.
Three witnesses first noticed the man driving the Accord westbound on Boulder Drive, according to Cleveland.com. The car veered off the right side of the road onto a tree lawn and into a mailbox before hitting a curb at the intersection of Boulder and Slate drives. From there it traveled through two front yards on Slate Drive, running over bushes before finally stopping in the street in front of a house.
Witnesses called police, who arrived to find the battered Accord parked in front of the home. The man was standing next to the car with two of the witnesses nearby. He told officers his car had gone haywire near the Arby's on West Bagley Road and that he had struggled to control it ever since, adding that he believed he had nearly killed people along the way, the outlet reports.
Confusion, Tears and a Claim of Make-Believe Police
What followed, according to the same account, was a disorienting scene for responding officers. The man said he could not currently see things and thought one of the witnesses smelled like an old friend. He yelled at one of the witnesses, asking whether police were even real; at one point, he called the police make-believe. He also said he had been prescribed Adderall, a medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
When asked whether he had been drinking alcohol, the man did not answer, per the outlet's report. He perspired heavily and experienced an increased breathing rate. He started crying, then stopped before paramedics who had arrived at the scene began asking him questions. He grew angry when they asked him questions. Afterward, he dropped to his knees again and whimpered.
Police placed the man in handcuffs and, with paramedics on scene, handcuffed him to a gurney. Inside the Accord, officers found two vapes along with a smelling-salts container holding white powder, the report states. The man admitted to smoking marijuana and to smoking what he described as a pen, which police believed referred to a marijuana vape.
What the Evidence Doesn't Settle
Ohio law, under Section 4511.19 of the Ohio Revised Code, prohibits operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them. But the white powder's contents, any toxicology results and the man's eventual charges have not been disclosed in reporting on the incident, and no court outcome has been made public.
It's also worth noting that marijuana use alone doesn't settle the question of impairment at the time of the crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has noted that toxicological tests can confirm the presence of THC in a person's system but do not by themselves indicate driver impairment. What exactly caused the man's behavior that day, and what the state ultimately decides to do about it, remains unknown.
