SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations
Just after 1p.m. April 19, a sheriff's deputy stopped and arrested a Culligan employee after multiple witnesses reported the Culligan box truck he was driving was dragging along a barbed wire fence, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.
The driver, later identified as 35-year-old Thomas Norton of Salina reported falling asleep and veering from the roadway.
"The box truck was southbound, left the highway, traveled down off and through the interstate fence," Soldan said. "Then we get a second report, a third report that the thing had come back up onto the interstate, back in through a field, and was dragging a chunk of barbed wire fence."
Norton then drove eastbound on Interstate 70 with the portion of the fence, exited the interstate at Ninth Street, and parked at a gas station near Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue.
Once stopped, Soldan said Saline County deputies then began conversations with Norton, who reported he fell asleep, leading him to veer off the highway.
Norton was booked on requested charges of possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, leaving the scene of an accident, improper driving on a laned roadway and no seatbelt," Soldan said. "The fence that was damaged belonged the Kansas Department of Transportation."