Impaired Driving Incidents Lead To Accident, Two Arrests

Two individuals were arrested for impaired driving in Leelanau County over the weekend.

On Saturday at 7:38pm, a Leelanau County Sheriff's Office deputy patrolling Solon Township found a 2000 Chevrolet pick-up truck stopped in the roadway on South Lake Shore Drive near Schomberg Road. While checking the vehicle, the deputy discovered the driver passed out in the car. After an investigation, the driver was arrested for suspicion of operating the pick-up truck while under the influence of drugs. Suspected drugs, both legal and illegal, were confiscated from the truck, along with a number of syringes.

The driver, a 37-year-old Suttons Bay man, was lodged at the Leelanau County Jail for OWI second offense, drug possession and bond violation. The man's prior OWI conviction was in 2003 out of Traverse City; he was out on bond from a recent arrest for aggravated domestic assault in Leelanau County.

On Sunday at 10pm, an accident was reported on M-22 north of East Lakeview Hills Road in Bingham Township. A caller witnessed a 2011 Cadillac driving erratically southbound before crossing the center line and colliding with a northbound 2017 Subaru. The female driver of the Cadillac then fled the scene on foot.

Leelanau County Sheriff's Office deputies, assisted by the Michigan State Police, searched the area but could not find the female driver. At 1:50am, a patrolling deputy spotted the woman walking on M-22 a distance from the original crash site. The driver, a 44-year-old Traverse City woman, showed signs of "spending a period of time in the woods...she was quite dirty and had abrasions on her lower legs," according to the Sheriff's Office. She was arrested for suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a accident (pictured). She was lodged in the Leelanau County Jail.

Both the driver and passenger in the Subaru involved in the accident were taken to Munson Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Photo credit: Leelanau County Sheriff's Office