Man Sentenced to Prison for Alcohol-Fueled Joy Ride that Injured Passenger

A judge slaps a jail sentence on a man whose drunken joy ride ended with his car wrapped around a utility pole and a passenger seriously injured.

Alex Brown will spend 14 and-a-half months to 35 and-a-half months behind bars at the Centre County Correctional Facility. He was also ordered to serve four years on probation.

Brown, 25, was convicted on numerous charges including driving under the influence, aggravated assault while DUI, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.

He was arrested on November 14, 2009 after wrecking his car in the Park Forest neighborhood of Patton Township. According to prosecutors, Brown spent several hours at a party before jumping in his uninsured car. He took a passenger for a wild ride that included burn-outs and flying through the streets at high-speeds.

Brown lost control on North Oak Lane and smashed into a utility pole, shearing the pole in half. The passenger suffered life-threatening internal bleeding from a lacerated spleen and lung and was coughing up blood. Prosecutors say Brown ran back to the party, leaving the woman alone in the dark. A neighbor, who heard the accident, called 911.

When police located Brown he initially told officers he’d been sleeping. Prosecutors say he later admitted to drinking and driving. Brown’s blood alcohol level was .084 percent, slightly above the legal limit. An expert testified at trial that his B.A.C. could have been as high as .114 percent at the time of the wreck.