A 73-year-old Centralia man was arrested for alleged driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident after crashing a pickup truck into a garage and setting off a natural gas leak.
Clarence Diehl of Diehl Lane in Centralia was not hurt and later released from jail on a notice to appear in court.
The Centralia Fire Protection District and Marion County Sheriff’s Department were called to the intersection of Airport and Greenview Roads southeast of Centralia Wednesday night to handle the crash.
Upon their arrival, they found a pickup had failed to stop at the T-intersection and crashed into a two-car garage at the southeast corner of the intersection after hitting an Ameren natural gas regulator near the entrance to the driveway. Natural gas was spewing uncontrollably in large quantities from the broken regulator, and the driver had left the scene.
Firefighters were able to shut down the flow of gas and waited for Ameren to arrive to make repairs.
Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies went to Diehl’s nearby home to question him after finding the license plate from his truck at the scene apparently it fell off during the crash.
