Man is charged after his car hits, ignites gas pump [Boardman, OH]

[yfdgricker]

Published in the Youngstown Vindicator on Tuesday, December 6, 2005...

Man is charged after his car hits, ignites gas pump

BOARDMAN — A Girard man was expected in Mahoning County Area Court this morning, charged with felony driving under the influence after crashing into gas pumps at a station.

Leonard Greathouse Jr., 74, of Smithsonian Street, was arrested Saturday evening, accused of crashing his car into the pumps and other cars at the Shell station at South Avenue and East Western Reserve Road.

According to a police report, the weekend arrest marks Greathouse's fourth DUI charge in 20 years.

The report said Greathouse's car was headed south through the gas station parking lot when he sideswiped another car parked at a gas pump. His car continued through the lot, going over a curb and hitting a 55-gallon plaster flower planter, pushing it into another car and knocking its driver, who was standing at the pump, to the ground.

Greathouse's car then hit one of the gas pumps, causing the pump to ignite and his car to catch fire. He then struck another car parked at one of the pumps, the report said.

Two witnesses pulled Greathouse from his car. No one was hospitalized.

When an officer approached Greathouse at the scene, Greathouse said, "I wrecked my car and I got one problem," the report said. "I'm drunk."

A breath test showed Greathouse's blood-alcohol level at 0.240. The legal limit is 0.08.