Columbus, Indiana – A firefighter from Columbus was detained and accused of impaired driving and fleeing the scene of an accident that resulted in significant injuries.
Police were called to the intersection of East 500 North and North 1150 East on March 15 at 2:48 PM in response to a complaint of a traffic accident with injuries. When the police arrived, they discovered the victim laying by the road.
The victim claimed that while riding his bike north on North 1150 East, a red Chevrolet pickup vehicle struck him. According to the victim, the car turned onto East 500 North while still moving west after the crash.
For potential internal injuries, the victim was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital.
Police stopped a car that matched the description in the vicinity of State Street and McKinley Avenue an hour after the victim was found.
When the car was pulled over by the police, Nicholas Tuttle, 35, of Columbus, was found to be the driver. Tuttle was given sobriety tests by the investigators, who also looked at the damage to his car; both tests revealed that Tuttle had been drinking before the crash.
Tuttle submitted to a validated breath test, the results of which showed that his blood alcohol content was.11. The Bartholomew County Jail received Tuttle.
Tuttle’s two kids who were in the car at the time of the traffic stop were handed over to their mother.
Tuttle was put on administrative leave, and the event is being investigated by the Fire Department Administration and the City of Columbus Public Works Board, according to the Columbus Fire Department.
