Jail facility damaged in early morning traffic accident

YOUNGSTOWN — The east side of the misdemeanant jail at 360 W. Commerce St. was slightly damaged around 12:20 a.m. today when a black GMC truck (license plate T BONE XL) drove into it, police said.

The driver, Jeffrey Hardie, 23, of Sunnybrooke Drive was charged with driving under the influence, failure to maintain reasonable control and failure to stop after an accident. He was arraigned today in municipal court and will be back in court Sept. 19 for a pretrial hearing.

The truck, not owned by the driver, ended up and the DeYor Performing Arts Center on Symphony Place, not far from the jail. Deputies stopped Hardie and his two passengers walking near the truck. Hardie was given a blood-alcohol concentration test and registered 0.127, police said. The legal limit is 0.08.

The occupants of the truck told police they made a left turn onto West Commerce and slid into the building because of wet roads. Hardie said he left the scene because he was trying to get a tow truck for his friend’s vehicle.