Truck crashes into car wash, driver charged with DUI

TRAVELERS REST, S.C. – A 29-year-old Gray Court man was taken to the hospital after crashing his truck into a downtown Travelers Rest car wash early Sunday morning.

The single-vehicle accident happened around 2:45 a.m. at Main Street Car Wash, located at the intersection of N. Main Street and McElhaney Road.

According to a Travelers Rest Police Department incident report, the driver, identified as Joshua Reece, was traveling west on Center Street when he drove through the intersection at Main Street and struck the car wash on the opposite of the roadway, causing the building's steel beams to buckle.

Reece had to be extricated from his 2001 Dodge Dakota and was transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police said there was an empty bottle of Jack Daniels and an open bottle of wine in Reece's vehicle at the time of the crash and that he had "a strong odor" of alcohol.

According to the incident report, Reece failed a blood/alcohol test administered at the hospital and was subsequently charged with driving under the influence. He was also charged with having an open container in a vehicle.