Drunken driver awakened by police speeds off, slams car into power pole

The silver Pontiac Grand Am was stopped in the middle of the road, near a busy intersection, when the Lubbock officers approached it around 8 a.m. Friday.

They had received a report that the driver was slumped over at the wheel.

When the first officer approached, he could see the man inside was unconscious, according to the police report, so he tried to wake him by knocking on the window. When that didn’t work, and he noticed blood on his face and shirt, he used his baton to break the passenger’s side window fearing that he may have been injured.

That’s when the driver, later identified as D’Morea Quashaveante Robinson, 18, woke up and sped off.

He didn’t get far.

Robinson collided with a utility pole, causing and explosion, and then his car caught fire.

The Lubbock Police Department released the dashcam and body camera footage of the bizarre incident on Saturday.

Robinson jumped out of the car and was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor injuries. He was then booked on charges of driving while intoxicated.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Drunken driver awakened by police speeds off, slams car into power pole."