State police charge man with DUI in Derry Township crash that prompted search

State police charged a 21-year-old Blairsville man with driving under the influence of alcohol after, they say, he crashed and abandoned a car Jan. 21 in Derry Township.

When a person walking along Torrance Road noticed a damaged white Kia sedan sitting along the Conemaugh River bank the next morning, multiple fire departments from both counties, river rescue units and police departments were dispatched to search the area.

Trooper Gregory Frank said initial responders found no operator but did locate footprints in the snow leading back up to the rural road. Frank said troopers, working with Blairsville police Chief Michael Allman, later identified the woman who owned the car, but she reported her boyfriend, Mitchell Lee Hillis of Blairsville, had been driving it.

After police contacted Hillis, he admitted that he crashed the car around 10 p.m. He told troopers he was drinking alcohol at home and intended to visit a friend on Torrance Road, but fell asleep and crashed. Hillis said he pulled himself from the car, climbed the embankment and called a relative to drive him home, Frank reported.

Frank said that Hillis still “smelled of alcohol” when he was interviewed after 10 a.m. Jan. 22 and given a breath test. His blood-alcohol level was 0.089%, or above the legal limit for driving under the influence of alcohol in Pennsylvania.

Frank reported he told Hillis he was going to be charged with DUI in connection with the crash.

“Hillis said he understood and was sorry for all of this,” Frank wrote in court documents.

In addition to DUI, Hillis is charged with abandoning a vehicle on private property, careless driving, failing to notify police of an accident, damaging private property with a motor vehicle and disregarding traffic lanes.

Hillis, who could not be reached for comment, has no prior criminal record in Pennsylvania, according to online court dockets. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled March 24.