Thursday, February 27, 2014
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
A Liberty man was arraigned on a charge of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs after police say he rammed his van into a house on the East Side several times Tuesday evening.
Police were called to a home on Fincastle Lane about 11 p.m., and when they arrived, they found a van stuck to an awning hanging over the front porch of a home and the driver, Ken Lucas, 34, inside.
The first cruiser on the scene parked in such a way that the van was blocked in and could not be backed out. Lucas smelled heavily of alcohol and had trouble understanding officers, reports said.
A woman who said she was Lucas’ sister and her boyfriend told police they had argued with Lucas at the home earlier in the evening, and that he had been drinking. Lucas wanted to leave but could not find his car keys and became enraged and punched a hole in a wall because he thought they took his keys, reports said.
Eventually, Lucas found his keys and then chased the boyfriend after he started his own car, then Lucas returned to the home and rammed a car in the driveway, which hit the garage.
Lucas then hit the home with the van and ended up getting stuck on the awning after he got hung up on several bushes in front of the porch he ran over, reports said.
Lucas was cited for OVI but refused to sign his ticket, reports said. He was taken to the Mahoning County jail. A felonious-assault charge also is pending against Lucas, a Youngstown Municipal Court spokesman said Wednesday.