TROY, Mich. – Police had to extinguish a fire after pulling over a suspected drunken driver who was involved in multiple crashes.
Officers were investigating property damage on westbound E. Big Beaver, east of Rochester Road on Jan. 8 at 3:51 p.m. The officer watched a silver 2013 Volkswagen Jetta flee the scene. The driver was involved in a second traffic crash west of John R. Road.
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The driver fled the scene and began traveling back west on E. Big Beaver Road. Other officers watched the vehicle as it was about to turn south onto Charter Square Drive and initiated a traffic stop.
When officers approached the vehicle they saw a fire in the rear passenger side of the vehicle. An officer ordered the driver to turn off the vehicle’s engine, “but he just stared at the officers," police said.
One of the officers reached into the vehicle and turned the engine off while the other grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the fire out. The fire was where the rear passenger tire had been; the tire was missing.
Police said the driver is a 41-year-old Troy man and said there was an odor of alcohol emanating from him. The man failed several sobriety evaluations, according to police.
Police said the preliminary breath test resulted in a .279 percent. He was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol – first offense, failure to stop and identify at two property damage accidents, and failure to report two property damage accidents.