Lang
12/5/20
Coralville Police say a man hit a pair of light poles while trying to evade one of their officers late Friday night.
According to arrest records, an officer attempted to pull over a Chrysler 200 for speeding on the 1700 block of the Coralville Strip just before 11:30pm. As the officer was turning around and before he could activate his lights and siren, the driver allegedly made swerving and jerking motions before turning northbound on 22nd Avenue, then eastbound into the Central State Bank parking lot.
That’s when the officer turned on his emergency lights. The driver allegedly refused to yield, instead driving up onto a curb and hitting a light pole in the parking lot. The car then started driving westbound in the lot, continuing over the grass, over the curb on 22nd Avenue, over the 22nd Avenue median, over another curb, and into the lot of Bank of the West across the street. That’s where the vehicle hit another light pole and came to rest.
The pursuing officer then made contact with the driver, identified as 34-year-old Robert Robinson of 20th Avenue. Police say Robinson smelled strongly of ingested alcohol, admitted to drinking, had open containers of alcohol inside the vehicle, had severely impaired speech and balance, and did poorly on field sobriety tests. He allegedly refused breath testing.
Robinson was arrested and charged with Operating While Intoxicated – 2nd Offense, and Driving While Denied or Revoked. If convicted on both charges, he faces a maximum of three years in prison.