NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — The Niagara County Sheriff's Office said a man is in jail Wednesday night after he was allegedly driving drunk, which resulted in a crash, downed power lines and sparked a grass fire.
The NCSO said they received a 911 call reporting a vehicle accident near the intersection of Saunders Settlement and Comstock Roads, in the Town of Cambria. Initial reports stated that the vehicle had overturned and that live electrical transmission lines were sparking a grass fire.
When deputies arrived to the scene they found a 2014 Ford on its roof in a farmer's field southeast of the intersection.
A ground fire had also started next to the farm field already on fire.
The driver, 32-year-old David M. Acito of Medina, had climbed out of the vehicle and was not injured.
Investigators at the scene learned that the Ford was travelling eastbound on Saunders Settlement Road when it exited the roadway off the south edge. The vehicle traveled into a ditch before striking a utility pole just west of the intersection.
The vehicle severed the pole off at the ground level causing the damaged power lines to come down and start the fire. The vehicle continued eastbound, and crossed over Comstock Road and came to a halt in the field.
The fire was extinguished by the Cambria Volunteer Fire Company and the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department.
Deputies said Acito failed the subsequent field sobriety tests and was arrested.