Five charged with OVI in Boardman over weekend
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Township police made five arrests over the weekend involving people operating a vehicle while impaired.
Police stopped Brandon Wise Gorcheff, 23, at midnight Saturday on Market Street. The officer, who pulled him over for not having his headlights on, approached the suspect, who reportedly smelled of marijuana.
The officer asked Gorcheff to provide his license, registration and proof of insurance, but the suspect purportedly did not attempt to give up the information.
According to a police report, Gorcheff stated he had marijuana in the vehicle, and police found a bag of suspected marijuana and a glass marijuana pipe. Along with operating a vehicle while impaired, police charged him with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia and cited him for traffic violations.
After running a red light, an officer pulled over David Lee Hodges, 37, on Stanton Avenue on Saturday. The officer reportedly smelled alcohol and asked if Hodges had been drinking. Hodges admitted he had been drinking but wanted to drive a friend to their motel.
The officer conducted a sobriety test, which Hodges reportedly failed, and the officer arrested him on an OVI charge and issued a traffic citation. Hodges’ blood-alcohol content was 0.169 percent. The legal limit for intoxication in Ohio is 0.08.
A cab driver reportedly approached two officers at 1:56 a.m. Saturday and said he dropped off Parambir Sandhu, 33, and Matthew Tul, 34, on Indianola Road, who repeatedly advised the driver they would be driving home after the cab ride.
Officers later found two vehicles driving erratically on Indianola near South Avenue. Officers stopped the two vehicles separately, and identified the drivers as Sandhu and Tul.
The officers said Sandhu and Tul both failed field-sobriety tests and were arrested on OVI charges. Tul had a blood-alcohol content of 0.119 and Sandhu’s was 0.166 percent.
Police responded to call of a female passed out at the wheel on Tippecanoe Road at 3:26 a.m. Sunday. Officials approached the vehicle and found a woman who reportedly seemed highly intoxicated and asleep while the car was in drive with her foot on the brake.
Teresa Bencivengo, 37, told the officer she wasn’t aware she fell asleep at the wheel, but reportedly smelled of alcohol.
Police conducted a sobriety test, which she failed. She was arrested on an OVI charge. Her blood-alcohol content registered 0.172.