Officials say an alleged drunk driver caused thousands of dollars in damage to the 'Charleston 9' memorial in Charleston Thursday night.
Daniel James Doherty, 38, of Charleston, told police he had left his friends after have a couple of drinks.
Police asked Doherty how drunk he was on a scale of 1-10, with one being sober and 10 being very drunk. He told them he was a four out of 10, according to ABCNews4.com. Doherty had trouble with his balance and speaking while they conducted a field sobriety test, according to the police report.
His pickup truck struck a utility pole on and snapped it in half before crashing through a fence. Damaged property at the Savannah Highway memorial included stone benches, shrubs and grass.
The memorial was dedicated on June 17, 2011--four years after the nine firefighters perished in a fire at the Sofa Super Store.
Killed were Engineer Bradford "Brad" Baity, Capt. Mike Benke, Firefighter Melven Champaign, Firefighter James "Earl" Drayton, Engineer Michael French, Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, Engineer Mark Kelsey, Capt. Louis Mulkey and Firefighter Brandon Thompson.
Officials estimate the damage to the memorial to be around $6,000 while the damaged utility pole will cost about $20,000 to replace.
Doherty, who was driving with a suspended license, has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under suspension and failure to surrender a suspended license.
