DANVILLE — A 74-year-old Riverside man, who hadn’t held a valid driver’s license since August of 2001, allegedly struck three parked vehicles, including one that was occupied and also the Montour County sheriff’s SUV, police said.
Richard Wiles, of Kipps Run, was stopped on Sunbury Road soon after the hit-and-run accidents May 8 in Danville, according to police. Lab results eventually revealed his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit of .08, police said.
James Donahoe was sitting in his 2000 Honda Odyssey waiting for his wife, who was in the Montour County Courthouse, when Wiles’ red 1997 Subaru Legacy scraped the length of Donahoe’s vehicle with its mirror and struck a 2006 Ford Explorer belonging to the sheriff’s department on Mill Street. The sheriff’s SUV had more damage than the Odyssey, Donahoe told police.
When asked if he remembered hitting the vehicles, Wiles said he thought he might have struck the side railing of the Danville-Riverside Bridge while driving to Riverside. While police were talking to him, they noticed a brown bag with three bottles of alcohol sitting on the back driver’s side floor panel, according to arrest papers.
Wiles told police he had two glasses of wine before he left home.
He also mentioned to police that his leg was hurting because of yard work he did the previous day. When police tried to help him out of the car, he crumpled to the ground and couldn’t stand or sit.
Police called for an ambulance, which took Wiles to Geisinger Medical Center. A blood test showed his blood alcohol level at 0.17 percent, or more than twice the legal limit, police said.
While police were leaving Geisinger, the 911 Center notified them a witness saw Wiles strike the 1990 Cadillac Brougham of Nathel Hickie on Ferry Street.
Police ran a check of Wiles’ New York driver’s license and found it expired Aug. 26, 2001.
They charged him with two counts of drunk driving, driving without a license, two counts of accidents involving unattended vehicles and one count of accidents involving an attended vehicle.
Charges were filed in the office of Montour County District Judge Marvin Shrawder.
-- E-mail comments to kblackledge@dailyitem.com.
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