A man in North Carolina was arrested twice for drinking and driving in the span of just four hours on Monday night.
The 26-year-old driver in Lincoln, whose name has not been revealed, was first stopped by traffic police at about 9.50pm local time near 27th and E Streets.
Lincoln police conducted a field sobriety test on the man and found his blood-alcohol level was .145, nearly twice the legal limit of .08, a police spokesperson said, according to the Omaha World Herald.
He was ticketed for driving in an intoxicated condition and was released after he was handed over to a sober person.
Almost three hours later, the police were called to a single-vehicle crash site on the 5900 block of Holdrege Street at 1.40am and found the same man was involved in the crash.
He was found to be intoxicated with an even higher blood-alcohol level of .204, the spokesman said.
The man has been booked into the Lancaster County Jail for drunk driving, negligence, and driving without proof of insurance.
It comes as a video showing a bystander chasing down a drunk driver who was trying to flee the scene of a fatal crash that killed an off-duty Texas police officer was released by authorities.
Dylan Molina, 27, had reportedly consumed eight double vodka Red Bull drinks before his rented Jeep ran a red light at high speed and plowed into a sedan in Lake Worth in November 2021, according to KDFW-TV.
Mr Molina pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault while driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January.
According to the US department of transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32 people die every day in drunk-driving crashes – that’s one person every 45 minutes.
“In 2020, 11,654 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths – a 14 per cent increase from 2019. These deaths were all preventable,” it said.
