(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing man who remains free on $5,000 cash bond was scheduled to appear in Payne County District Court this afternoon on his third drunk driving charge.
If convicted of his felony DUI charge filed today, Charles Wayne Towry, 44, could be given as much as a five-year prison term and $2,500 fine.
If convicted of misdemeanor counts of driving on a suspended license and leaving the scene of a property damage accident, Towry could be jailed for two years and fined $1,000, court records show.
Towry was already on felony DUI probation in a 2013 case, court records show. Towry had also received probation on a 2012 misdemeanor DUI case, court records show.
In his new case filed today by Assistant District Attorney Tom Lee, Cushing police had been dispatched about 5:33 p.m. on May 24 to the area of Linwood and Oak Streets regarding multiple reports of vehicle accidents, an affidavit said.
“It was reported that a vehicle had rammed a vehicle multiple times at 1302 E. Maple, and then caused a second accident on Linwood at Oak Street and fled the scene,” Cushing Police Officer Michael Bruggman alleged in an affidavit.
When Bruggman arrived in the area of Linwood and Oak, a silver four-door Chevolet pickup was crossing the entire southbound lane of Linwood Street, the affidavit said.
The driver, who said he was okay, asked the officer if he had seen the dark blue Honda Civic that had traveled southbound on Linwood just before the officer arrived, according to the affidavit.
“Communications informed us he was advised the driver of the suspect vehicle was CW Towry,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
At the accident scene, “I observed a vehicle grill from a Honda laying on the ground approximately 20 feet from the pickup,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
Cushing Police Sgt. Matt Piatt and the officer were unable to locate the suspect vehicle that was found in the 1400 block of E. Broadway by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy David Barnes, the affidavit said.
At that location, “I observed a dark blue Honda Civic parked in the driveway of the residence. There was significant frontal damage to the vehicle,” which was missing the front grill, the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Moments later, a very intoxicated male subject came out the front door onto the porch area; he could barely stand up straight…I asked him what his name was and he stated, ‘Charles Towry,’” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I asked Towry if he had been driving the damaged vehicle at any point throughout the day and he stated, ‘Yeah.’ I asked him if he had just been involved in multiple accidents and he looked down at the ground and stated, ‘Yeah, I am just scared.’
“I asked Towry how many alcoholic drinks he had consumed and he stated ‘four or five 40s,’” of Bud Light, the Cushing officer alleged in his affidavit.
“I asked Towry why he had left the scene of an accident and he stated, ‘I’ve been drinking, and I don’t have a license. I got scared,’” the Cushing officer alleged in his affidavit.
When two witnesses were brought to the scene, Sgt. Piatt said that they “positively identified Towry as the man driving the Honda Civic,” the affidavit alleged.
“The two witnesses also drove down the street to the residence the vehicle was parked at and reported that the damaged vehicle in the driveway was the same vehicle Towry had been driving,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked to take a breath test for alcohol, Towry said “Why not, yeah,” the affidavit alleged. “Towry then stated, ‘I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?’ I told him I did not believe anyone had been hurt in the accidents. He stated, ‘Okay, good,’” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
When Towry was instructed on how to blow into the device, “Towry then stated, ‘I might not be able to do that because of my lungs,’” and made multiple unsuccessful attempts, the affidavit said.
“Towry asked again if he had hurt anyone in the accidents and stated he made a mistake and was sorry,” the affidavit alleged.
Towry then declined to take a blood test for the presence of alcohol, the affidavit said.
The owner of the first vehicle that Towry allegedly rammed “informed Sgt. Piatt she did not wish to press charges on Towry for the minor damage done to her vehicle,” the affidavit said.
Three years earlier, on May 30, 2013, Towry was charged with felony drunk driving in the 1400 block of E. Broadway Street in Cushing while transporting an opened container of beer, to which he pleaded guilty.
In that felony DUI, Towry was placed on four years’ probation on Nov. 8, 2013, except for five days in jail, with an order to have a substance abuse evaluation, perform any recommended follow-up, do 50 hours of community service and pay $700 in fines and assessments.
Seven months before that DUI, Towry was charged with drunk driving on Oct. 25, 2012, on Norfolk Road just south of Deep Rock Road at 7:32 p.m. in a case investigated by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Bobby Miller.
In that misdemeanor DUI, Towry was placed on one year’s probation under a deferred sentence on Jan. 11, 2013, with orders to perform 10 hours of community service, attend a victim impact panel, have an evaluation and pay a $400 fine.
But on Nov. 8, 2013, Towry’s case was changed to a one year suspended sentence for violating his probation, with an order to serve five days in jail, court records show.
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