A 60-year-old man is being investigated for allegedly driving seven times over the legal limit and crashing his BMW into an electrical substation.
A 60-year-old man is being investigated for allegedly driving seven times over the legal limit and crashing his BMW into an electrical substation.
He also sustained serious injuries, a paramedic said, cracking the windshield with his head and breaking the steering wheel with his chest. The accident took place along Somerset Street on Monday 19 August.
Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene near the Beaufort Street intersection at approximately 11.30pm. By that time two Rhodes University students had pulled the unconscious man from his car.
One of the paramedics, who asked to remain anonymous, told student newspaper Oppidan Press that the driver was about seven times over the legal drinking limit. “We had him fully immobilised and he didn’t want to stay down,” the paramedic said.
Despite describing the man as “seriously injured”, the paramedic said, “he got out of the ambulance on his own and the cops took him into custody”. He was later breathalysed and underwent blood tests at Settlers’ Hospital.
Police spokesperson Mali Govender said the man will appear in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on 19 March 2014.
