A Stratford man was seriously injured Saturday in a head-on collision with a suspected drunk driver, police say.
Early Saturday morning, officers received a report of a serious crash on Downie Street near Falstaff Street, police said. The responding officers discovered a GMC Sierra pickup truck had collided head on with a Hyundai Elantra. Because of the severity of the crash, Downie Street was closed in this area throughout Saturday morning as the Stratford department’s collision reconstruction scene investigated with help from the OPP.
The 31-year-old Elantra driver was rushed to Stratford General Hospital and later transferred to London Health Sciences Centre, where he remains in critical condition.
The driver of the pickup – a 19-year-old Perth South man – was arrested at the scene of the crash for impaired driving and taken to Stratford’s police headquarters. After breath tests were taken at the station, the man was subsequently charged with two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm and dangerous operation causing bodily harm.
The Perth South man had his driver’s license suspended for 90 days. He was released from custody on an undertaking and is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 28.