Bend man arrested in DUII crash that snapped power pole

An alleged drunken driver who lost control of his pickup on a curve on Bend’s Northeast Boyd Acres Road and snapped a power pole in half Sunday evening was arrested on DUII and other charges, police said.

Police responded around 5:40 p.m. to a reported hit-and-run to a power pole on Boyd Acres Road near Lamoine Lane, Sgt. Juli McConkey said.

Arriving officers found the 2008 Ford F-150 and uninjured driver Nicholas Fortin, 27, of Bend, a short distance from the crash scene, she said.

An investigation found Fortin was driving south on Boyd Acres and was traveling too fast to negotiate a curve. He lost control, hitting landscaping rocks and then the power pole, McConkey said.

Pacific Power’s Oregon outages page said about 35 customers were still without power a few hours later. The crash also hit a utility box and apparently affected phone and Internet customers in the area.

Fortin was arrested on charges of DUII, reckless driving and second-degree criminal mischief. He was taken to the Deschutes County Jail and released later to a responsible third party, a jail officer said.

Boyd Acres Road was closed to a single lane of travel while the power lines were down on the roadway.