An allegedly intoxicated safari driver with a dozen passengers aboard struck traffic dividers on Veterans Drive around 7 p.m. Monday before police brought the vehicle to a stop, according to court documents.
Jean Philistin’s bright red and orange safari truck ran down several plastic lane dividers as it left the Coast Guard dock-area pullout in Charlotte Amalie, then swerved westbound, Virgin Islands Police Department officers said.
Police stopped the safari at the pullout across the street from First Bank and found a glassy-eyed Philistin in the driver’s seat, pants open and partially pulled down, and reeking of alcohol, according to court records. Money was scattered across his belly and the floor of the vehicle, according to court records.
Philistin allegedly staggered outside the truck. Police told the Virgin Island Superior Court they smelled alcohol on the driver from five feet away. He failed a field sobriety test and later registered a 0.123% blood alcohol level on breathalyzer test — well above the 0.08% legal limit, according to court records.
Philistin was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and 12 counts of reckless endangerment — one for each passenger aboard. He was due in court for formal arraignment Nov. 7.
Both Philistin and the safari truck have had other recent run-ins with police.
The 22-seat, red and orange safari was the subject of an island-wide truck hunt after being reported stolen in the early morning hours of May 13. The theft, near the Sugar Estate post office on Alton Adams Sr. Drive, was seemingly more than a joyride, police said. The enormous open-sided truck with license plates TP-0080 was allegedly used in another crime in the Subbase area, according to a community alert post issued by VIPD. Police did not elaborate on the nature of the crime, nor where the safari was eventually found, six days later.
Philistin has been charged with negligent driving at least three times since July 2013, most recently in March, according to court records.
Messages left for Melissa Smith, acting director of the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission, were not immediately returned.
St. Croix Source
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