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Moments later, Elmwood Park police found the truck in the lot of a nearby apartment complex, where the drunken, unlicensed driver was trying to fix the flat, Chief Donald Ingrasselino said.
A resident summoned police after the silver 1999 Ford truck smashed two signposts at River Drive and Washington Avenue around 6:30 in the morning Thursday.
Officers found the truck — owned by Maarv Waterproofing of Clifton — in the parking circle of the Elmwood Court Apartments on Broadway. Underneath the rear right side, the driver was trying to change the flat, Chief Ingrasselino said.
Patrol Officer David Meyers said he asked the man “if he was OK,” but he had “difficulty in standing up” and “his speech was slurred.”
The driver, identified as 57-year-old Francisco Torrent, said his truck hit the curb when he reached for his ringing cellphone, Meyers reported.
Torrent, who police said was driving with a suspended license, said he’d had four beers at a Clifton bar, Meyers said. However, the officer said he “was swaying and staggering” both while walking and trying to stand still, and that his eyes were bloodshot and watery.
Once backup officers arrived, Meyers gave Torrent a sobriety test. When he got to the part where he had to walk heel-to-toe, he “almost fell over,” Meyers said.
Then he stopped and said: “I don’t want to waste your time. Do what you have to do.”
A breath test at headquarters registered .10, Meyers reported, above New Jersey’s .08 legal limit.
Besides a DWI charge, Torrent got summonses for violations that include reckless driving, driving while on the suspended list, using his cellphone, driving on the sidewalk and leaving the scene of an accident.
A few hours later, a friend from Leonia came to pick up Torrent, who was released without bail pending court action.
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