After a driver with a BAC of .265 was arrested for OVWI, he allegedly said he knew he should not be driving and he pulled off the road and parked his vehicle rather than kill somebody.

Joshua Aaron Calabrese, 43, Bloomington, was arrested last Friday, March 10, by Deputy Caleb Sipes of the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

Around 5:40 PM, Greene County Sheriff George Dallaire notified dispatch that a black 2018 Chevrolet Silverado was parked off of US 231 south of Bloomfield but was partially in the road. Calabrese was identified as the driver and the sheriff told dispatch he believed the driver was intoxicated and he asked for a deputy to meet him on the scene. Dispatch then notified Sheriff Dallaire that Calabrese was wanted on an active warrant out of Lawrence County.

Deputy Sipes, the investigating officer, said Officer Ryan Montgomery of the Bloomfield Police Department was first to arrive to assist. Calabrese said he was headed home to Harrodsburg and admitted he had been driving but at that point he didn't know where his keys were.

When Deputy Sipes arrived on scene, Calabrese was in handcuffs with Officer Montgomery and Deputy Sipes and Sheriff Dallaire conducted the vehicle inventory as required before towing. Deputy Sipes reported they found an open bottle of Smirnoff vodka with no cap on the floorboard with the vodka spilling out, soaking the rear passenger floorboard with the odor of an alcoholic beverage.

Calabrese allegedly admitted he had been drinking alcohol that day but he had no idea how much. He showed numerous signs of intoxication but due to his impairment and the location, field sobriety tests were not conducted on the scene.

Calabrese was transported to the Greene County Sheriff's Department where he failed standardized field sobriety testing. When questioned, he allegedly said he didn't know what time he left his house, didn't know what time it was currently, thought he was in Monroe County and when asked what he was doing during the last three hours, he said, “Making massive mistakes.”

A certified breath test revealed Calabrese had a blood alcohol content of .265. The legal limit is .08. Due to his high blood alcohol content, Deputy Sipes transported Calabrese to Greene County General Hospital for medical evaluation. Once cleared, he was transported back to the sheriff's department where he was booked into the Greene County Jail at 9:24 PM.

In another interview the next day, when asked what made him decide to pull off the highway, Calabrese allegedly said, “I had no business driving and I didn't want to kill somebody,” later adding that it was better going to jail rather than killing someone so he pulled over, took the keys out of the ignition and threw the bottle in the back seat.

His bond was set at $4000 surety with 10% cash allowed. However, he was also being held on the Lawrence County warrant in a case involving misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated with endangerment. In that case he was being held without bond.

When Calabrese appears in court, he will be facing charges of:

Operating a vehicle while intoxicated - first offense with no endangerment, a Class C misdemeanor, and
Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .15 or more, a Class A misdemeanor.