Local & State Headlines

Man: ‘I took sleeping pills’

• A suspect tells police he had taken two prescription sleeping pills before striking a number of vehicles.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — A man was jailed early Tuesday morning after crashing into at least 13 different vehicles after police say he mixed alcohol with prescription sleep aids, police reports show.

Stephen A. Young, 56, of Cumberland Lane was charged with driving under the influence, striking a stationary object and driving without a license on his person, police reports show.

According to the police reports, police found Young sitting behind the wheel of his 2007 Chevy Tahoe on the 500 block of North Westover Boulevard near the Princeton Place Apartments just before 1 a.m. Tuesday. While driving to his location, police noted that there appeared to be pieces of trees, bushes and cars scattered throughout the roadway.

Officers reported that when they approached the vehicle, they found Young still buckled into his seat, trying to text his girlfriend, but struggling to get his thumbs to hit the phone buttons.

Reports show that while officers attempted to arrest Young, he repeatedly fell down before asking police, “What the (expletive) happened to my car?”

GBI agents working nearby told police that they witnessed Young drive through the apartment complex parking lot striking vehicles as he went along. They also noted that he struck two light poles, the report says.

According to officer Timothy Harvey, who transported Young to the Dougherty County Jail and then to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital for a blood test, Young posted a .187 on the intoximeter at the jail.

Harvey wrote that while headed to Phoebe, Young told him that he had taken two prescription Ambien sleeping pills earlier in the night before his girlfriend called him to come pick her up. Young told Harvey that he didn’t know where he was and that he didn’t remember going to the jail or being placed under arrest, the report says.

No one was injured during the crashes, the report shows.

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