Drunken wrecks in two towns caused by single driver, police say

A Covington man was arrested and jailed Sunday after a drunken drive that resulted in two injury accidents within an hour.
Martin W. House, 51, was charged with numerous traffic and drunk driving offense following the incident.
Police first began looking for House at about 7:29 p.m. Sunday after he allegedly fled from the scene of an accident he caused on Cumberland Falls Hwy. in front of Circle K just south of Corbin.
According to Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Onkst, House drove his car down to Williamsburg and hit another vehicle near I-75 Exit 11 and drove off from that accident as well. Onkst is investigating the case along with Williamsburg Police Officer Brad Boyd.
“Witnesses from the first accident gave differing reports of what color the car was,” Onkst said. “Some said it was blue, others said gold.”
Dispatchers alerted authorities to be on the lookout for a blue or gold Chrysler LeBaron before House wrecked again near Williamsburg.
Onkst said witnesses at the Williamsburg accident had a better description of the car and a license plate number that closely matched one given from the earlier wreck in Corbin.
“It was just one letter off,” Onkst said. “The dispatcher put two and two together and we realized he’d been involved in both accidents.”
Onkst said shortly after the second accident, he received a call from the dispatch center of a motorist needing help at about the 20-mile marker on I-75. When he arrived, he found House sitting in a badly damaged vehicle.
“He destroyed that car,” he said. “I don’t see how his car was even running to get to the second wreck. His airbag was deployed and he was sitting on the side of the interstate. The whole front end was torn off it and there was fluid leaked out from underneath everywhere.”
Onkst said House told him he was moving to a residence on Bee Creek Road, but was “uncooperative” when asked further questions.
“He was bad drunk,” Onkst said. “He didn’t really offer any kind of explanation.”
House was charged with DUI, driving on a DUI suspended license, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident and driving with no insurance. Onkst said House injured some motorists in the second accident, but details of the injuries were not available at press time.
As of Tuesday, House was still lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.