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Peter Cryan, 43, of Pompton Lakes, registered a .24 on a blood-alcohol level breath test -- three times the legal limit, Detective Capt. Laurence Martin said.
Cryan told the officer who stopped him that "he thought he had struck an ambulance but was not sure," Martin said.
Members of the Wayne Memorial First Aid Squad were responding to an emergency call when they saw Cryan's 1995 Nissan Maxima rear-end another car in the area of Valley and Ratzer roads around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the captain said.
The victims followed the car -- which had front-end damage and smoke from a deployed airbag in the cabin -- and flagged down responding Officer Sean Mitchell, who stopped the Nissan after it bounced off curbs on Valley Road near Nellis Drive, Martin said.
Cryan had two open vodka bottles on the front seat, smelled strongly of alcohol and was unable to get out of the car without help, Martin said.
Police found three more vodka bottles n the car and arrested Cryan after he failed a field sobriety test.
They charged him with DWI, drinking in a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of a crash, then released him to a responsible adult pending a hearing.
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