A DUI driver hit a tree on a sidewalk on Main Street in downtown Vernal last week. According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the officer observed a gold sedan with its front passenger side bumper wrapped around a tree near 168 West Main Street. 45-year-old Kevin Lee Bruce had been the driver. On the ground by the vehicle was a can of Budweiser spilling into the gutter. The same type of Budweiser was on the floorboard of the vehicle. The officer could smell alcohol on Bruce’s breath and field sobriety testing was performed and the officer determined there was probable cause to arrest Kevin Bruce for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol. It was also found that a pedestrian had been injured due to the accident as the vehicle first collided with a construction zone traffic control device sending a large metal piece of the device in motion that then hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital. Kevin Lee Bruce was placed under arrest and booked into Uintah County Jail on charges of Negligently Operating a Motor Vehicle Resulting in Injury, DUI, Open Container, and Unsafe Lane Travel.
