Wrong-way driver facing alcohol charge

Columbus police arrested a local man on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he was seen driving the wrong way on Lafayette Avenue.

At 11:15 p.m. Friday, Columbus police officer Drake Maddix saw a red Volkswagen traveling north on Lafayette Avenue near 12th Street and stopped the vehicle, driven by Jorge Chavez, 37, of 1525 Pearl St., said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.

Officers found an open bottle of alcohol in the vehicle and determined Chavez didn’t have a driver’s license, Harris said. Chavez failed several field sobriety tests and later provided a breath sample of .228 percent, nearly three times the legal limit, Harris said.

Chavez was taken to the Bartholomew County Jail on preliminary charges of felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated and misdemeanor operating a vehicle without ever receiving a license, Harris said.

He was released from the Bartholomew County Jail under the new pre-trial program that allows people who have been arrested to be released without posting bond. His bond was set at $10,000, jail officials said.