ORLANDO, Fla. – A man accused of leaving the scene after injuring a motorcyclist when his vehicle struck the rider's bike and split it in two as he was driving drunk was arrested early Friday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A trooper who went to the crash at 11:30 p.m. Thursday said he saw the injured motorcyclist being put into an ambulance and received a call from an Orange County deputy who said he had found the driver who hit the motorcyclist.
Recommended Videos
The deputy told the trooper that the driver had struck a light pole about a half-mile from the initial crash site, causing it to split in half. Live wires were blocking the road, the trooper said.
Troopers said Alexander Nolan, 19, said he had just gone through the intersection of OBT and Central Florida Parkway when "he hit someone or someone hit him," according to the arrest report.
When troopers asked Nolan why he didn't stop to check on the person he hit, he told them "he didn't know why," the report said.
When asked how his car ended up a half-mile from the original crash, Nolan told troopers he was trying to go around a curve in the road when he lost control and struck the light pole, causing it to fall across the road, according to the report.
After multiple field tests, the trooper arrested Nolan on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Nolan was taken to the Orange County Breath Center, where his breath sample indicated his blood-alcohol level was 0.127, which is almost 1.5 times the legal limit for drivers over the age of 21, more than two hours after the crash involving the motorcyclist, troopers said. Nolan was later taken to the Orange County Jail.
The motorcyclist was taken to Osceola Regional Medical Center as a trauma alert, troopers said. No other details about his condition were available.