WEST VIRGINIA TROOPER STRUCK BY ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVER

A West Virginia state trooper investigating an abandoned car near the Falling Waters exit of Interstate 81 was struck by an alleged drunk driver early Saturday morning. Although Senior Trooper D.S. See received several injuries after being struck, he was treated and released from City Hospital, according to a news release from Sgt. G.S. Petsko, of the West Virginia State Police, Martinsburg Detachment.

In a telephone interview Saturday morning with The Journal, Petsko said the most serious injury to See was on his left leg, but declined to elaborate. No additional information on the injuries sustained by See were released. Tristen Brooke Shifflett, the alleged driver of the car which struck See, remains in Eastern Regional Jail on $10,200.

Berkeley County Magistrate Harry Snow arraigned Shifflett on Saturday morning.

Shifflett, 23, of 926 Main Ave. in Hagerstown, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol with injury, failure to maintain control of a vehicle and traveling too fast for roadway conditions, records show. According to the news release, See and Trooper J.D. Schuessler responded to a single vehicle crash near the Falling Waters exit about 3:15 a.m. Both officers began investigating the Chevrolet Malibu that had been abandoned.

“The whole crash is under investigation,” Petsko said of the Malibu. About 3:25 a.m., Shifflett lost control of the silver Ford Escort she was driving in the northbound lane of I-81, slid off the eastern roadway edge and struck the driver’s door of Schuessler’s cruiser and proceeded to slide northbound striking See and the Malibu at the same time, according to the news release.

Petsko said Schuessler was uninjured in the accident.

According to a criminal complaint filed by Senior Trooper Z.L. Nine, when he arrived at the scene, he found See lying on the ground on the east roadway edge of I-81. See was treated at the scene by medics and transported by ambulance to City Hospital in Martinsburg. While speaking with Shifflett, Nine said he detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from her mouth and asked her if she had been drinking. She told the trooper that she had a couple of drinks that evening.

After speaking with Shifflett and helping the medics load See into the ambulance, the trooper saw two separate vehicle wrecks in the westbound lane of I-81, so he took care of those accidents before speaking to Shifflett again, the criminal complaint showed. Nine gave Shifflett three field sobriety tests, which she failed, as well as a preliminary breath test, which she also failed. He then transported Shifflett to the West Virginia State Police Martinsburg Detachment for a secondary chemical breath test. Prior to the test, Shifflett told the trooper that she lost control of the car she was driving on the bridge at the 23 mile marker and struck a state police cruiser and another vehicle.

The secondary chemical breath test on Shifflett yielded a .036 percent blood alcohol content. The legal limit in the state for operating a vehicle is .08.

If convicted of DUI with injuries, Shifflett could receive anywhere from one day to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.