A truck driver was arrested after striking a fire hydrant and driving away, causing a neighborhood street to flood.
The fire hydrant was struck around 1 a.m. on Sunday, October 22nd in Dayton, Tennessee.
According to The Herald News, Alexander Rodriguez was heading out after making a delivery to Pero farms when he accidentally struck a fire hydrant near Broadway Street and 14th Avenue. The force of the impact sent a geyser of water shooting out of the ground and began flooding the street. Rodriguez then drove away.
Police were called to the scene and discovered multiple residential properties flooded, along with a large amount of water still coming from the damaged fire hydrant. Witnesses told police that a white truck hauling a white trailer had struck the fire hydrant and then fled.
Due to the severity of the flooding, officials had to block off the flooded road as they searched for the culprit.
Rodriguez was soon found in his rig at a nearby Walmart, where officers noticed traces of red and blue paint from the fire hydrant transferred onto the trailer from the impact, as well as a large amount of mud and water pooling beneath the parked rig
.
Upon being questioned by officers, Rodriguez denied any knowledge of the incident and claimed he had been asleep in the parking lot for 2 hours and was unable to understand English well.
Officers then obtained surveillance footage from the Walmart that depicted Rodriguez parking the rig at a time later than the time he specified, as well as footage of him immediately exiting the semi truck and rushing to the place where the paint had transferred from the hydrant. Rodriguez continued to deny the incident.
The help of a translator, combined with the physical evidence and matching time frame, was enough to allow for the officers to make an arrest.
Rodriguez was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor. He was released on $5,000 bond on Sunday morning.
Leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage can result in up to 30-days in jail in the state of Tennessee.
