(La Porte County, IN) - A flock camera allowed police to catch an alleged drunk driver who fled after a close encounter with a flagman at a La Porte County intersection.

 

Phillip Hoopingarner, 51, is charged with operating while intoxicated and never receiving a driver’s license.  He was also taken into custody for failing to appear on an arrest warrant issued out of Lake County.

 

According to La Porte County Police, the Chesterton man was traveling at a high rate of speed late Tuesday morning on Wozniak Road in Coolspring Township when he slammed on his brakes for a flagman directing him to stop.

 

Following an argument, police said Hoopingarner began driving off and the flagman to avoid being hit jumped out of the way but the front bumper still clipped his knee.

 

The flagman called 911.

 

Police said a flock camera picked up the suspect’s vehicle in La Porte where a responding officer spotted it on Pine Lake Ave.  The officer made a traffic stop of the vehicle in the parking lot of McDonald’s where Hoopingarner was placed in handcuffs after allegedly refusing a certified blood alcohol test.

 

Police said there was an odor of alcohol on his breath along with alcoholic beverage containers in his vehicle.  The flagman reported he was not injured.