Driver arrested after found sleeping in vehicle in a closed restaurant drive-thru

Keith Yeager

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus police officers arrested a local man for operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he was observed sleeping in the driver’s seat of his truck in a closed restaurant drive-thru early Tuesday morning.

At approximately 2:10 a.m., CPD officers responded to Taco Bell, 3520 W. Jonathan Moore Pike, in regards to a vehicle parked in the drive-thru after the business was closed, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.

When officers arrived, they observed a Ford F150 truck running in the drive-thru. The officers noted the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage inside the truck, and that the driver of the vehicle, Keith B. Yeager, 52, of Columbus was sleeping in the driver’s seat.

When the officers woke Yeager, he put in the vehicle in gear and began to drive off, Harris said. Additional officers arrived in the parking lot and stopped Yeager a short time later.

When Yeager exited his vehicle the officers noted that his speech was slow and slurred, Harris said. Yeager failed a number of field sobriety tests and later provided a certified breath sample of .181%.

Yeager was placed under arrest and transported to the Bartholomew County Jail  on a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle with a BAC of .15% or greater, a Class A misdemeanor.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.