Crime & Safety

Iowa City Police: 'So Messed Up' West Liberty Motorist Drives into Telephone Pole, Snapping it in Half

Police said that the man commented after his arrest that he was "so messed up," and "I was (expletive) drunk" referring to the intensity of his intoxication.

Update: Here's an account of the incident from Iowa City resident Julie Staub, reprinted from her Facebok page with her permission:

Staub: [was] just leaving the gas station on gilbert and kirkwood and heard a crash, boom, bang and sparks light up the sky! turned around and watched a telephone pole literally split in half and land on a parked car! some drunk kid had ran into the poll and the air bags were out. the kid was still in the car and was trying to reverse. i ran up to the car and told him to turn it off....and got him out of the car. the pole nearly hit the nearby apartment building...wires sparked and down on the ground. his air bags probably saved his life but he was too drunk to notice. he will be sitting in jail tonight. poor fella. even tho he was in the wrong,


A West Liberty man was lucky to escape without serious injury after he drove his vehicle into a telephone pole at the intersection of Gilbert Street and Kirkwood Avenue last night, snapping the pole in half.

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According to Iowa City Police, Paul Sanchez, 21, of West Liberty was involved in a single vehicle accident at this intersection at 9:47 p.m. When officers arrived, they found Sanchez outside the vehicle with blood-shot watery eyes, slurred speech, and an odor of an alcoholic beverage on him.

Sanchez reportedly told police that he had consumed four beers prior to driving and said "I was (expletive) drunk" and "I'm so messed up," to describe his level of intoxication at the time.

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To further prove this, police say that Sanchez failed all field sobriety tests and gave a blood-alcohol rating of .219.

Sanchez was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a serious misdemeanor.


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