A driver on his way home from work who hit a deer in the Linton area was in court Monday, accused of driving with a blood alcohol concentration over three times the legal limit.

Stephen Edward Tupper, 46, of Hymera, was arrested by Det. Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department after Cullison responded to an accident on Saturday evening, December 29.

Around 6:45 p.m. that Saturday, a woman called the sheriff’s department to report a crash in front of her house in the 12600 area of West State Road 54 in Linton. She said she thought the driver was intoxicated.

Det. Cullison found a white 2004 Nissan Sentra on the east side of the road with Tupper in the driver’s seat. Tupper said he didn’t have his driver’s license with him. Turned out his license was out of Florida, but when Cullison ran a check, he found it had been suspended.

Tupper told the deputy he was on his way home when he hit a deer and Cullison noted damage to the front passenger side of the car.

Cullison also noted he could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Tupper and he thought Tupper was acting strange plus he asked several times not to be taken to jail.

Tupper was unable to perform field sobriety testing and Cullison reported a portable breath test showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .249, over three times the legal limit of .08.

After Tupper was transported to the sheriff’s department, a chemical test conducted at 8:21 p.m. showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .246.

Tupper was booked in around 8:50 p.m. His bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He later posted $400 cash to bond out, was released and given a court date of Monday, January 7.

When he appeared in court for the initial hearing, he was formally charged with:

Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .15 or more, a Class A misdemeanor,
Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor, and
Operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor.