A Towamencin man has been charged with felony DUI after police allegedly found him asleep next to a gas pump at Royal Farms on Sumneytown Pike in Towamencin on New Year’s Eve.
Oleksii Prazdnikov, 38, has been charged with felony DUI and a summary county of driving while blood-alcohol content is .02% or greater while license suspended, in connection with the Dec. 31 incident. Prazdnikov has not yet been arraigned on the charges and bail has not been set, court records show.
Towamencin Township Police were on patrol at 8:37 p.m. when an officer allegedly observed Prazdnikov asleep behind the wheel of a running minivan at a gas pump at the Royal Farms located along the 1700 block of Sumneytown Pike. Police approached the vehicle and after multiple attempts knocking on the window, Prazdnikov finally awoke, according to charging documents.
Police said Prazdnikov struggled to roll down his window and unlock his door, adding that Prazdnikov appeared disoriented and confused while trying to answer questions about how he ended up at the gas pump. Prazdnikov was described as smelling of alcohol with bloodshot, glassy eyes and slurred speech, according to the criminal complaint.
The report also states police observed an open beer container inside of the vehicle.
Prazdnikov allegedly failed a series of field sobriety tests, and he refused to consent to a blood draw, police said. He was subsequently taken into custody.
After clearing the scene, a police review of Prazdnikov’s criminal history showed four separate DUI charges over the last nine years, including one active case in Montgomery County.
Court records show Prazdnikov is in custody at the Lackawanna County Prison as of Jan. 6, for what appears to be a probation violation stemming from his third DUI conviction, which occurred in September 2022.
His first court appearance on the new charges is a preliminary hearing on Feb. 8 at 1:45 p.m. in front of District Judge Ed Levine.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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