The Erie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a one-car car crash June 16 involving a Wellington police officer in a construction area, according to a police report.
At 12:04 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot playing loud music in the 6000 block of state Route 60 in Florence Township.
Officers discovered a truck that had driven through the closed road barricade, striking several steel beams.
The 2017 Dodge Ram came to rest about five to 10 feet onto the bridge’s steel beams and sustained heavy damage the front and side, the report said.
The male identified himself as a Wellington police officer.
According to the report, the 34-year-old officer made several suicidal statements and there was an “overwhelming” odor of alcoholic beverages coming from inside the vehicle, the report said.
Deputies located a firearm inside the vehicle with additional ammunition.
The officer was transported to Firelands Regional Medical Center for a mental health investigation and the incident remains under investigation.
He was charged with a felony count of improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle and misdemeanor counts of OVI, using a weapon while intoxicated, open container in a motor vehicle and driving on a closed roadway.
