Suspected Drunken Driver Causes Serious Accident in Highland, Shuts Down Roadway

A 25-year-old Milford man was arrested Sunday at 2 p.m. following a serious car accident on Milford Road in Highland.

According to the report filed with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office Highland Substation, the man was involved in an accident in the Village of Milford near Hector and Jimmy's, but fled the scene down Milford Road towards Highland where a second accident occurred.

The report states that several witnesses saw the man's truck, a 2004 Ford F-150, speeding up to 80 mph, down the stretch between Milford and Highland, and passing cars in no passing zones.

While coming over the crest of a hill on Milford road, the driver struck the back end of a car, causing both vehicles to spin out, the report states.

The truck traveled across the roadway and struck a telephone pole before coming to a stop, the report states, and the pole fell across Milford Road bocking traffic in both directions.

When deputies arrived on the scene they started to address the medical needs of the truck driver, and of the driver of the second vehicle. That vehicle was driven by a 50-year-old Milford man who had his 16-year-old daughter in the car with him.

Both were transported for care to a nearby hospital and later released.

The driver of the truck was combative with EMTs on the scene, according to the report, and smelled heavily of intoxicants.

Deputies questioned the 25-year-old driver who said he had been drinking beer and whiskey prior to driving - but he would not say how much. When asked by deputies if he knew what had just happened, he said, according to the report, "I may have just killed someone."

The 25-year-old was given a preliminary breath test at the scene, and registered a .25 blood alcohol level. The legal limit is .08. A search warrant was obtained to take blood for further blood alcohol level test after the man refused the blood tests initially, the report states.

Deputies noted in the report that the man was not cooperative with deputies or medical personnel once taken to the hospital. After being treated at the hospital, the man was released from custody pending the results of the blood test.

The incident remains under investigation. Records show the man had a prior operating while under the influence conviction in 2007.