Billings Area News

Drunk driver injures passenger and causes small power outage

Posted: Oct 13, 2012 10:25 PM by Q2 News

BILLINGS- A drunk driver injured his passenger and caused a small power outage on Saturday night in Billings.

Shortly before 7p.m., the Montana Highway Patrol and the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office responded to South 56th Street West in Billings for a single vehicle accident.

When law enforcement arrived at the scene, they discovered a 1969 GMC pickup truck, which had swerved in to a field while heading northbound on the road.

After more investigation, the Montana Highway Patrol says the truck had collided with two power poles when the truck swerved to the right and drove through a ditch before overcorrecting and landing in a field on the opposite side of the road.

Montana Highway Patrol says there was a passenger in the truck, who was taken by ambulance from the scene with life threatening injuries.

The driver of the vehicle fled from the crash, but witnesses and county deputies were able to locate the driver, a male, in a nearby field and he was taken into custody.

Montana Highway Patrol says alcohol was the main contributing factor to that crash and that the outage affected few customers and would be repaired quickly.