[StBernard] Truck, building erupt in flame after drunk driver crashes in Arabi

[Westley Annis]

Truck, building erupt in flame after drunk driver crashes in Arabi
by The Times-Picayune 
Saturday April 25, 2009, 10:32 AM
A drunk driver crashed his pickup truck into an Arabi building early
Saturday, fleeing the scene before the structure and his vehicle went up in
a blaze, said spokesman Steve Cannizaro of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's
Office. 

Bert Pomes Jr., 25, 254 Friscoville Ave., Arabi, was booked into the parish
jail on charges of DWI, reckless driving and hit-and-run driving. 

Cannizaro said Pomes' truck hit a building in the 6900 block of St. Claude
Avenue about 4:30 a.m. Pomes presumably was trying to turn his truck around
when the wreck happened. 

St. Bernard firefighters, sheriff's deputies and State Police searched the
scene but couldn't find any victims, Cannizaro said. 

Eventually authorities tracked Pomes to a house on Friscoville Avenue, a
short distance away, and arrested him. 

State Police closed a portion of St. Claude's eastbound lanes while
officials determined whether the building, which was vacant, had to be
razed. By 11 a.m., it was.