Austintown man faces OVI charge

AUSTINTOWN — A township man was arrested for operating a vehicle impaired Monday afternoon after swerving on Norquest Boulevard and crashing in a church parking lot.

Keith R. Sharp, 60, of South Beverly Avenue, was arrested at 3:06 p.m. for OVI and registered a blood alcohol level of .156, nearly double the legal limit of 0.08.

He will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Mahoning County Area Court here.

According to a police report, a person called Austintown police about an impaired driver who was traveling eastbound on Norquest going into oncoming traffic.

The car drove over a mailbox, drove over guide wires to a utility pole at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 4470 Norquest Blvd. The car then went through the front yard of the church and through bushes and then drove over a 5-foot retaining wall.

From the wall the car crashed onto a dumpster and nose-dived to the ground.

Sharp failed two field sobriety tests and did not attempt a third test.