Police rush to apprehend apparent drunk driver on KY 245

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Saturday, May 17, 2008, 11:45 p.m. -- An apparent drunken driver in a Ford pickup truck belonging to a Boston-area man endangered dozens of motorists as he careened westbound on KY 245 tonight, often driving in the wrong lane.

The truck, registered to a Keith Knob Road resident, was reported driving erratically by a cell phone user who was driving behind the white Ford pickup while the truck was on KY 245 heading west. The caller stayed on the phone and gave police details on the driver's direction of travel.

The truck was reportedly all over the road, often driving into oncoming traffic. Near Flaget Hospital, the driver forced a number of oncoming cars off the road as he repeatedly crossed across the yellow line.

There were no police in that end of the county at the time the call came in to Nelson County Dispatch. Sheriff deputies and Bardstown police rushed to try to catch the driver before he crashed into another vehicle.

Along his route down KY 245, the truck had gone off the roadway and plowed down a highway sign. The sign stuck beneath the pickup truck and was dragged for several miles before falling off near Flaget Hospital. Several vehicles hit the sign after it fell off the truck, including a Nelson County Deputy Sheriff who said he came up on the debris so quickly he couldn't avoid hitting it. The deputy's Ford Explorer SUV was damaged and disabled from striking the debris.

With the caller still on the phone with dispatchers, police were able to track the truck after it turned off KY 245 and onto KY 523 before turning onto Samuel's Loop.

Police caught up with the truck as it was stopped in the 1700 block of Samuel's Loop. The driver was arrested and lodged in the Nelson County Jail.

Police are still investigating at this hour.