It looks like vehicles crashing into buildings may become a county-wide epidemic if this keeps up much longer.
Around 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Arkansas City Police officers received information that someone had hit the Agri-Business building and was attempting to leave the scene.
The building at 712 W. Washington is owned by the city and is host to numerous public and private events each year.
Upon arrival, officers spoke with the driver, James Franklin Mitchell, 19, of Miami, Okla., and had him perform field sobriety tests. It was further determined Mitchell had hit a vehicle on Seventh St., driven across the Cowley College softball field before crossing Washington, hitting a fence and striking the ag building, according to chief of police Sean Wallace.
Mitchell was taken to the police station where his breath-alcohol level was found to be .021. That level is well below the legal limit for those over 21 but not for a driver Mitchell’s age, Wallace said.
Mitchell was later released to his father who posted a cash bond.
He faces charges of leaving the scene of a non-injury accident, failure to report a non-injury accident, transporting an open container of alcohol consumption, possession of intoxicant by a minor, and suspicion driving under the influence.
Upon inspection by a NewsCow reporter, damage seemed confined mostly to a smaller portion of the building that includes the front-entrance to the facility and is attached to the larger main-activity area. Damage assessments are still being made, Wallace said.
