Crime & Safety

Drunken Driver Causes Two Crashes, Police Say

After fleeing the scene of one crash, driver causes second accident on the border of Jefferson and Sparta, according to police.

A 33-year-old Mine Hill resident was charged with DWI, reckless driving, failure to keep right and failure to maintain a single lane of travel after a motor vehicle collision on March 30, Sparta police said.

And according to police, it was Shawn Drennan’s second accident of the afternoon.  

According to Sparta Police Sgt. J.P. Beebe, Drennan also was involved in a hit and run accident around 2 p.m. March 30 on Rte. 181 near Signal Hill Trail and struck the guide rail and spun out. Beebe said Drennan fled the scene when other motorists stopped to assist.  

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Fifteen minutes later, Beebe said Drennan was involved in a more serious accident several hundred yards west of the Jefferson Township border.

Beebe said Drennen’s 2010 Honda Civic crossed the double yellow lines and ran into a black 2009 Jeep Wrangler that was traveling west. In the Jeep was 20-year-old Brendan Drexler of Stockholm, the driver, and his passenger, 20-year-old Derek Bishop of Oak Ridge, Beebe said. 

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According to Beebe, Drennan suffered serious leg injuries and blunt trauma and had to be extricated from the vehicle by the Sparta Fire Department and airlifted to Morristown Medical Center for treatment.

Both Drexler and Bishop were transported by the Sparta First Aid Squad to Newton Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Beebe said.  They were treated and later released.  

Drennan, who was determined by investigating officers to be under the influence of alcohol, was charged with DWI, reckless driving, failure to keep right and failure to maintain a single lane of travel stemming from the second accident, Beebe said.   Based off the investigation of the first accident, Drennan was charged with reckless driving, failure to keep right, fleeing the scene of an accident with property damage and failure to report an accident, Beebe said.   

Additional charges are pending. 

Department accident reconstructionists Officers Kurt Morris and Jeffrey McCarrick are investigating assisted by Detective Keith Hannam.  Glen Road was closed between Edison Road in Sparta and Holland Mountain Road in Jefferson for more than two hours.

Assisting at the scene was the Sparta Fire Department, the Sparta First Aid Squad, paramedics from St. Clare’s in Sussex and the Jefferson Township Police Department. The vehicles were removed from the scene by Hayden’s Towing Service.


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