Two men charged with operating a motor vehicle impaired in same area

Staff report

NILES

Arraignments will be today for two Trumbull County residents charged with operating a motor vehicle impaired in separate incidents early Saturday within an hour of each other — in nearly the same place.

One man was arrested after police found him passed out in his car at a main intersection. The other involved a man driving down the road with a flat tire and heavy front-end damage.

At 3:03 a.m., police were called to the intersection of North Main and East Federal streets near the McDonald’s restaurant for a man unconscious behind the wheel.

An officer called to the driver and banged on the window several minutes before Alfred D. Stewart Jr., 54, of Mason Street, Niles, woke up.

It took Stewart close to two minutes to open the door. When he got out, he admitted he had “had way too much to drink,” a police report says.

A test indicated his blood-alcohol level was 0.148, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08. He is charged with OVI and driving under suspension.

At 3:47 a.m., a Niles officer spotted a car leaving the McDonald’s with no headlights, heavy damage to the front end of the car, a blown-out tire and severe damage to the rim.

The officer stopped the car at the corner of North Main and Robbins Avenue a short distance south. James R. Taylor, 23, of Ivy Hill, Cortland, said he was following a friend home. The car’s bumper was in the front passenger seat, and the air bag had deployed.

Police believe Taylor’s car hit a utility pole at 824 North Main. Several witnesses there observed Taylor’s damaged vehicle and debris in the roadway, police said.

One woman watched him pull the bumper off his car and put it inside the car, she told police.

Taylor’s blood was tested at 0.221, nearly three times the legal limit. He was charged with OVI, leaving the scene of an accident and driving under suspension.