A North Carolina man was taken into police custody early on Sept. 17 after a single-vehicle accident that occurred in a residential area. Police reported that a car crashed into a fence then struck an outbuilding and a house, all of which were on the same piece of property. Local police arrived at the scene of the car accident at approximately 12:54 a.m., but the vehicle’s driver was not there.

The registration information for the 2010 Toyota Corolla at the scene led police to a nearby home. Police reported that the 18-year-old suspect was intoxicated when the accident happened. Both DWI and hit-and-run charges were filed against him. He had previously been released from jail on a $50,000 bond for drug-related charges, so the second bond was set at $100,000.

Although the residents of the home were not injured, authorities said the crash caused property damage that was estimated to be more than $64,000. Police also reported that localized power loss and a potential gas leak in the area stemmed from the crash.

If retained after an incident similar to the one described, a defense attorney could potentially find a reason to focus on how police determined that the client was intoxicated. If the lawyer’s review of the information about the case revealed that the testing equipment used to measure the client’s blood-alcohol content may not have been calibrated properly, that could provide a reason to call the test results into question. A defense attorney could also discover that a blood or breath test was improperly administered, which could weaken the prosecution’s case against.