A drunken driver left his bumper at a crash scene, deputies say. Coming back for it didn't end well for him

A drunken driver left a bumper from his SUV at the scene of a hit-and-run accident early Saturday, then left behind a trail of coolant as he drove five blocks to his home, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies say.

That’s bad enough. But then he drove the damaged SUV back to the crime scene to retrieve the bumper.

Deputies were still there and arrested the 28-year-old on suspicion of hit-and-run and driving while intoxicated.

Here’s the Sheriff’s Department account of the incident:

A crash awoke a Frederickson couple about 6:20 a.m. They went outside their home on 28th Avenue East and saw a black SUV had crashed into their car, which was parked on the street.

They watched the driver pull away, leaving behind the SUV’s front bumper, replete with a license plate. The wife called 911, and the husband searched the neighborhood for the SUV.

A deputy arrived and ran the license plate, which was registered to a home five blocks away. The deputy followed a trail of coolant to a home where a bumper-less SUV sat in the driveway.

The deputy knocked on the door of the home and a bleary-eyed man answered. Slurring his words, he said he fell asleep while driving home that morning and hit a car. He said that, given the time, he didn’t want to wake the owners, so he drove home and was going to come back later and leave a note.

He also mentioned he didn’t have insurance.

The deputy said the man was under arrest for hit and run. The man repeated he’d left because he didn’t want to wake the owners, and added he wasn’t drunk.

The deputy cited the man and went to the scene to talk with the couple. That’s when the SUV driver showed up to get the bumper. He refused sobriety tests and was arrested.

After being taken to the sheriff’s precinct, he refused to take a blood-alcohol test.

“I know I’m not going to pass,” he said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2018 at 6:23 PM.