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Police are seeking a warrant for the arrest of the man believed to be the driver of the truck that slammed into a downtown building Sept. 21.
According to a supplemental report made available today, the registered owner of the pickup, Fredrick Rex Robertson, 38, of North CR 875W, Etna Green, went to the Warsaw Police Department Thursday with his attorney and admitted his involvement in the accident that caused an estimated $88,000 in damage. He is expected to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
Police were called to the scene of the accident at 1:33 a.m. Sept. 21 and found the truck against the building at 116 W. Market St., where a utility pole also was struck and a gas line was ruptured as a result of the vehicle hitting a gas meter.
Robertson told police he drank about three beers before the accident, but didn't believe the alcohol consumption contributed to the accident. He said he was showing off for an unknown female he saw standing on the corner of Buffalo and West Market streets by accelerating and squealing the tires of the pickup. He then lost control of the vehicle, going to the left and hitting a NIPSCO pole before crossing over all lanes of traffic to the right, hitting a bench, gas meter and the building housing Alderfer & Associates Retirement Planning.
Robertson said he remembers standing at the rear of the truck for a second and then he doesn't remember anything until he was sitting on the floor at a friend's house holding a rag to his bloody nose. He said he doesn't know how he got to the friend's house.
Although Robertson admitted being the driver of the pickup at the time of the accident, he reportedly didn't have any bruising or injury marks on his chest or head, which the report indicated would have been likely. Police said the impact caused someone to hit the steering wheel hard enough to bend it and left hair on the visor when a head struck the windshield. Robertson told police his only injury from the accident was his bloody nose.
A witness reported seeing a man and a woman running from the scene shortly after the accident.
The matter remains under investigation.
