Pilot charged with OWI after crashing ultralight plane

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Police say the pilot of an ultralight was arrested after he crashed the plane while intoxicated Monday afternoon.

Around 4:40 p.m. Monday, state police say Trooper Scott Hipsher and St. Joseph County Police Department officers responded to reports of a single-engine plane that had crashed in the area of Grant Road and Wild Heather Drive.

Officers say when they arrived, they found an ultralight that resembled a small single-engine airplane had crashed at the entrance of the Heather Ridge subdivision. They say the pilot, 61-year-old Joseph Krol, was not injured in the crash but was showing signs of alcohol impairment.

Krol failed the field sobriety at the scene of the crash, police say. After being medically cleared and submitting to a certified chemical test at a local hospital, Krol was arrested for operating while intoxicated - endangerment and operating while intoxicated. He was then transported to the St. Joseph County Jail.

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