An Irvington Police Officer stopped Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate within an hour of an intoxicated Pate having a wreck that injured a Leitchfield woman in early March.
According to a report by WHAS.com, within an hour of Pate crashing on Hwy 259, near McDaniels, someone called 911 to report a reckless driver who was crossing over multiple lanes of traffic, and who could be “asleep at the wheel.”
Irvington officer Craig Ball was inside Auggy Doggie’s gas station, on Hwy 60 between Irvington and Harned, when dispatch issued the alert on the possible impaired driver. Ball, WHAS.com reports, stepped outside the convenience store and observed a vehicle matching the description given by dispatch. Ball approached the truck and had a conversation with Pate before allowing the sheriff to drive away.
Irvington Police Chief Brandon Brinkley told WHAS.com that Ball “did what he’s trained to do and the sheriff showed no signs of impairment … unfortunately, sometimes you miss things.”
Kentucky State Police Trooper Joey Beasley arrested Pate on Friday night, March 8, at approximately 7:15. In Pate’s arrest citation, Beasley states that upon making contact with Pate, after he crashed his Chevrolet Silverado into a vehicle being driven by Jill Lanning, the sheriff exuded a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person, blood shot eyes, slurred speech and (was) unsteady on his feet.” Beasley also wrote in the citation that he asked Pate to “lean against the rear” of his cruiser “so he would not fall into traffic.”
The citation says that Pate consented to a “breath test,” and recorded a .159, nearly twice the legal limit of .08.
Witnesses at the scene, in reporting the accident to Breckinridge County Dispatch, said Pate was “hiding beer bottles in a nearby wooded area,” after the wreck, according to the citation. When Beasley arrived on scene, he found Pate “standing above his truck in a wooded area.”
Pate was lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center. Lanning was treated and released from Breckinridge County Memorial Hospital.
This incident marks the second time since October 2015 that Pate has been charged with DUI. Pate was arrested in Bowling Green after being found intoxicated and behind the wheel of a vehicle in the parking lot of a Waffle House. Police had been looking for Pate after his wife swore out a warrant against him for threatening to kill her and her parents. He was charged with terroristic threatening and DUI among other charges. He later pled guilty to DUI.
According to Pate’s attorney, the sheriff entered a 45-day treatment program in Tennessee within a few days of his latest drunk driving arrest
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
