By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The 26-year-old who reportedly drove his pickup truck into a Pe Ell house injuring a couple who were in their bed was charged yesterday with vehicular assault.
Brian T. Zock, of Pe Ell, was arrested Saturday morning after the collision and bailed out of jail before the weekend ended.
Zock appeared yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court with a large cut along his nose.
Judge Richard Brosey maintained bail at $10,000 and ordered Zock to refrain from consuming “any alcoholic beverages period, I don’t care in whatever setting.”
Troopers are blaming driving under the influence.
Aid and law enforcement were called about 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day to the home on North Third Street.
According to responders and charging documents, Zock’s Ford pickup broke through a wall and entered the bedroom.
Mary Moreau, 71, was knocked out of the bed and onto the floor of the bathroom, according to Assistant Fire Chief Mike Davis. Norman D. Moreau, 73, was still on the mattress but pushed up against the wall and appeared to have broken ribs, charging documents say.
He was flown to to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with internal injures, according to the Washington State Patrol. She was initially taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with scrapes and less serious injuries, but was transferred.
The couple were both listed in satisfactory condition yesterday morning at Harborview.
Charging documents say Zock was slumped behind the steering wheel when law enforcement arrived. He was taken by troopers to the hospital where blood was drawn, as he refused to perform field sobriety tests, according to charging documents.
The truck was totaled.
Zock has a DUI from 2006 and a conviction for negligent driving in 2005. He has only one felony, according to Lewis County prosecutors.
Zock made a so-called Alford plea to seven counts of first-degree animal cruelty after a July 2006 incident in which he – with two other young men – allegedly got drunk and shot up several cows around Pe Ell and then partially butchered some of them.
Zock’s statement at sentencing in that case noted he had very little memory due to alcohol consumption causing a blackout.
His opportunity to make his plea on the vehicular assault charge will come on Jan. 13. The maximum penalty for the offense is 10 years in prison.
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Read “Vehicle crashes into Pe Ell bedroom overnight; two injured” from Saturday Jan. 1, 2010
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter