On Friday, July 16th, 2021, the Greene County Sheriff’s Department was called to the scene of a red, 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII found in the ditch on the east side of Linton between the Elks’ Lodge and the Phil Harris Golf Course.
With no one around the car, police relied on two men standing nearby to identify the car and the driver, and even where they were most likely to find the man, despite them not having seen the accident itself. That man, the driver of the vehicle now in the ditch, was later identified as John Kennyth “Kenny” Wheeler, age 67, of Linton.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Mr. Wheeler was located at his residence, agreed to take some sobriety tests, and failed. He was handcuffed and transported to Bloomfield, where more field sobriety tests were administered due to the weather. Wheeler said he had “drank some beer” at the local Moose Lodge that evening, then drove another man home. He had just missed his turn when he was going back to his residence, and it really wasn’t an accident, he said.
At the Sheriff’s Department, he was administered a data chemical breath test and blew a 0.179 blood alcohol concentrate level. Earlier in the evening, a separate, portable breathalyzer provided a reading of 0.170.
Mr. Wheeler was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony charge. Bond was set at $8,000 with ten percent allowed. Bond was paid.