FREDERIKSTED — A St. Croix man is facing DUI charges after he allegedly sideswiped another vehicle on a side road last month, authorities said.
Police responded to reports of a two-vehicle collision on River Road, near the Church of God Seventh Day church, just after 7:30 p.m. on February 18, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
Officers found Andre Joseph, who had been driving a white Acura TL, and the other driver involved in the collision, a woman driving a white 2019 Dodge Ram, according to the VIPD.
The woman told police that she had been heading north on River Road when she noticed the Acura swerving into her lane. She says Joseph struck the front left side of her passenger door, the probable cause fact sheet indicates.
When they approached Joseph, officers noted the odor of alcohol on his breath. The suspect admitted that he had been drinking “some beers,” and he agreed to undergo the three standardized field sobriety tests, which he failed, Superior Court documents show.
Joseph was then arrested and taken to the Wilbur H. Francis Command Police Station. He declined the chemical intoximeter text, and was subsequently charged with driving while under the influence of an intoxicating liquor, police said.
He submitted his driver’s license in lieu of bail, and in court on Monday, the presiding judge ordered that his license be suspended for 90 days, during which temporary privileges would be granted only for Joseph to drive to work, school, and to a petrol station to refuel.
Joseph has a police record and made the daily crime blotter in July of 2019 for an alleged incident of simple assault, VIPD records indicate.