Sumner Police Blotter: Driver Impales Car on City Fence

Editor's Note: The following arrest information was supplied by the Sumner Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.

On Saturday, June 4, a man under the influence crashed his car into a metal fence owned by the City of Sumner at Elm Street and Valley Avenue, according to the Sumner police report. The top rail of the fence impaled the front windshield of his vehicle, which  continued down an embankment, eventually hitting an apartment building fence at 15008 Elm St.

The driver was criminally cited for DUI, driving with a suspended license in the third degree, driving without insurance and driving on a sidewalk. 

Police estimate that the vehicle was driving eastbound on Elm Street and left the roadway at a sharp right angle, went up and over the sidewalk and eventually struck the metal fence. The impact took out three sections of the fence and metal poles were strewn throughout the front yard of the apartment complex. An adjacent power pole was also impacted and a power line to a nearby house began to sag, about 10 feet from the ground. Puget Sound Energy was called to make repairs.

The accident crushed about 15 feet of fencing, which caused the top metal pole of the fence to separate. The pole penetrated the windshield at an angle on the driver's side, inside the cab toward the passenger seat. When officers approached the car, they noticed two open beer cans–one on the driver's side and the other in the middle console.

The man tried to walk away from the scene but police caught him. He was swaying and smelled of intoxicants when police asked for his identification, at which point he pulled out his debit card and a business card. He insisted that was his identification.

When asked to give his name, the man said, “you know, the guy that owns the south part of town” multiple times. His pants were sagging and his fly was unzipped. The officer had to pull his pants back up after he handcuffed the man for major property damage and DUI. The man’s teenage son appeared on the scene, as did the man’s mother. The son wouldn’t identify his father but the man’s mother did.

The man continued to be hostile with police and refused to submit to a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) test. He was eventually booked at Puyallup Jail.

Sumner City Shops was contacted to make the area as safe as possible until repairs could be made and the car was towed from the scene. Caution tape remains on the fence, which has not been repaired.

Patch spoke with Carmen Palmer, communications spokesperson for Sumner, about who would be responsbile to pay for the fence.

"The challenge is that fence was specially manufactured, so Public Works is still trying to make contact with the fabrication firm to find out what it’s going to cost to replace [it]," said Palmer.