Alleged Drunken Driver Crashes Into Braddock Drive-Thru

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Alleged drunken driver crashes into Braddock drive-thru

By Graham Niles
The Braddock Times

The employees working the drive-thru at the McDonald's on Ewing Street deserve a break today after an allegedly heavily intoxicated man drove into a cement barrier leading to the pickup window on Tuesday only to return Wednesday to hand the clerk a $5 bill with vomit on it.

Deputies were called on Tuesday by a clerk who indicated Oliver Jonathan Blair III, 43, of Brownview Apartments, had struck a yellow cement barrier that separates the window from the building with a 2001 chocolate brown Ford F-150 pick-up truck leaving a yellow mark in the front of the truck but he was gone by the time deputies arrived on scene. On Wednesday at about 1 p.m. deputies received a call that Blair had returned and handed the clerk a $5 bill covered in vomit, Braddock Sheriff Fenton Washburn said. Blair was visibly intoxicated when deputies arrived Wednesday and was having difficulty walking and talking, Washburn said. Washburn said eight beer cans fell out of the driver's side door when Blair stepped out and police found empty 12-packs and many more beer cans inside the vehicle.

"The inside of the car was covered in filth," Washburn said, adding that — in addition to beer cans — human feces and vomit were found in the vehicle. Washburn said it appears that Blair was using his vehicle as a restroom. Blair gave police an address of 420 Kemellia Avenue, the address of the Braddock County Public Library. Blair was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated, his second offense. "He did pay for his food," Washburn said.

Despite the fact that Blair has had many run-ins with the law, he was immediately released by Federal District Judge William J. Jennings, who argued that McDonald's was at fault because the signage around the drive-thru was obscured by nearby bushes and not readily visible.