BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – According to local authorities, a Louisiana Department of Public Safety (DPS) vehicle was hit by a driver who was under the influence of alcohol, and the collision left two people with injuries.
An official report on the incident says it occurred Sunday, December 11, shortly before 4:30 a.m., along Airline Highway, just north of I-110.
In the document, authorities say a light rain was falling as the DPS vehicle was headed northbound on Airline Highway.
Suddenly, according to officials, a second automobile that was headed south and traveling on the wrong side of the highway hit the DPS vehicle in a head-on collision.
The impact of the crash injured both the driver of the DPS vehicle and a passenger in the other automobile, troopers say.
In their official report, officials identified the driver of the offending vehicle as 33-year-old George Michael Barrow, a member of the U.S. armed forces who was stationed at Arizona’s Fort Hood.
Authorities described Barrow as contrite, stating, “he was very emotional, as he knew that someone had been hurt.”
After Barrow allegedly admitted to consuming two alcoholic beverages earlier that morning and submitted to select portions of the Standardized Field Sobriety Test, he was deemed intoxicated and arrested.
Authorities say Barrow was jailed on charges that included vehicular negligent injuring, operating while intoxicated; first offense, reckless operation of a vehicle, and possession of alcohol in vehicle.
At this time, the extent of the injuries sustained by the driver of the DPS vehicle and Barrow’s passenger remain unknown.