Mayoral candidate Fontes charged with DUI

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CAMPBELL — Mayoral candidate Francis A. (Tony) Fontes was scheduled to appeared in municipal court this morning on charges of operating a vehicle under the influence and failure to control his vehicle.

Fontes, 61, of Creed Circle, was arrested by city police late Wednesday after he crashed his Ford Explorer into a utility pole in front of 166 Madison Ave., cracking the pole in half. The accident occurred about 11:15 p.m., according to the police report.

The officer called to the scene followed a trail of antifreeze to 124 Madison, where he found the Explorer in the driveway with the horn blowing, and Fontes out of his vehicle looking at the damage.

The responding officer asked Fontes if the Explorer was his, and if he had been drinking. Fontes said it was his car and he had hit the pole, but that he had not been drinking.

When a second officer arrived to conduct field sobriety tests and again asked Fontes if he had been drinking, Fontes said, “I had a few,” according to the report.

Fontes failed the one-legged, the walk and turn, and horizontal gaze field sobriety tests. Later, at the police station, Fontes submitted to a breath test, which police said revealed a 0.176 percent blood alcohol content. The legal limit in Ohio is 0.08.

Fontes’ vehicle was towed and he was held in city jail until he posted $250 bond.

alcorn@vindy.com