Crime & Safety
Police: Drunk Driver Caused Monday's Holmdel Power Outage
Police said an alleged drunk driver was in the car with his 4-year-old son when he struck a utility pole.
Almost 800 Holmdel residents were left in the dark on Monday, after one driver brought down a utility pole on Van Brackle Road.
According to Holmdel Police, George Vellios, 44 of Holmdel was allegedly driving while intoxicated with his 4-year-old son in the car when he struck a utility pole, then left the scene.
Holmdel Patrolman Ptl. Theodore Sigismondi pulled Vellios over after observing heavy front-end damage on his vehicle, while driving on Crawfords Corner Road near Holmdel Town Hall.
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Vellios' son was taken to Bayshore Hospital with minor injuries and released on Monday.
Vellio was charged with assault by auto, driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated with a minor in the car, reckless driving, failure to keep right, failure to maintain lane, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident.
Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The crash caused Holmdel Road to be closed from around 4:30 p.m. on Monday into Tuesday. A police department news release issued on Monday at 10 p.m. stated it is unknown when the road will reopen again.
As of 10 p.m. on Monday, power was restored to Holmdel, according to the JCP&L outage map.
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