3649335

Drunk Driver Causes Power Loss

3649335

If your business, school, organization or home lost power last night and wondered what caused the outages…Lincoln Charter Township Police have your answer. It was caused by an accused drunk driver who lost control of his vehicle, sheared off a utility pole and set a major transformer on fire.

Lincoln Township Police Chief Dan Sullivan says his department was called to the scene of a rollover crash and subsequent fire near 500 Glenlord Road last night about 10:45pm. Upon arrival, officers found 72 year old Thomas Zabadal inside his 11-year old vehicle, only slightly injured. While his vehicle was not on fire, the toppled utility pole from American Electric Power had been sheared off and dangling wires and the nearby transformer were ablaze. 

Authorities helped Zabadal from his car and Medic One personnel performed an exam and took him to Lakeland Health with minor injuries. Lincoln Township Firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished the fire, and stood by until Indiana Michigan Power crews arrived on the scene to deal with the utility damages.

Chief Sullivan says his officers noted that the driver, Mr. Zabadal, had been consuming alcoholic beverages. After both a sobriety test and the subsequent blood test at Lakeland in St. Joseph, it was determined his blood alcohol content was in excess of the legal limit of .08-percent. He says Zabadal was lodged in the Berrien County Jail on charges of Operating While Intoxicated. The Berrien County Prosecutor authorized the charge of OWI this morning, and the driver will be arraigned in Berrien County's Trial Court.
 
Officers from Lincoln Township Police were assisted by St. Joseph Township Police in the investigation.
 
There were widespread power outages reported as a result of the crash, including the closure of Upton Middle School for the day today, as well as other power losses impacting the Lakeland Health Park, YMCA and surrounding offices and businesses in Royalton Township.

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