By Neale Gulley<br><a href="mailto:gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Neale</a>
A North Tonawanda man suspected of drunken driving drove off Niagara Street early Sunday and came to rest on a snowbank a few feet from police headquarters in the City of Tonawanda.
Police have since charged Robert L. Shugarts, 23, 439 Witmer Road, with DWI, refusing a breath test, speeding and crossing center lines at about 5:45 a.m. After going off the road, he continued a few hundred feet on course with the building before piled snow brought him to a stop.
Shugarts allegedly left his running 2006 Ford F-150 in drive as it sat lodged in a snowbank in the upper parking lot of City Hall, at 200 Niagara Street, also home to city police headquarters.
“He took down a Japanese apple tree in front of City Hall, hit the DMV sign, knocked over a wooden post and got hung up on a snowbank,” Police Lt. Fred Foels said. “What makes this one different is he walks up to the front door to go into the police station.”
As for the fact the truck was left running by Shugarts (who told police he had consumed one beer), Foels said the $600 in damage to the rare apple tree could have been much more.
“If that snowbank didn’t hang up that vehicle we would have had a pickup in the lobby of City Hall,” he said.
Shugarts said he had been coming from Buffalo where he was working as a disc jockey. He claimed he was run off the road by another car passing him as he headed east on Niagara Street.
Shugarts was held for court.
