A Mohave Road man is facing drunk driving charges after crashing his sport utility vehicle into construction scaffolding on Grove Street early Thursday morning.
Police said the scaffolding took the brunt of the hit at the Northworks building at 102 Grove St., but the building was not compromised.
Police went to the building at 12:16 a.m. to find a 2003 Nissan Xterra under a tangled pile of scaffolding. A light pole was also knocked down, and a nearby parking meter was bent. A large hyrdaulic lift that was part of the renovation project at the building was extensively damaged.
The driver, Jose Velez, 23, of 45 Mohave Road, was outside the Nissan talking to firefighters.
Two witnesses who had just left The Fix restaurant told police they were walking under the scaffolding when they saw the Nissan go through the construction cones set up around the lift. The two had to jump out of the way, police said; once the Nissan came to a stop the two witnesses ran to help Mr. Velez out of the vehicle.