The police chief of Washington Township, Northampton County, spent about eight hours in a bar prior to a single-vehicle crash that totaled his car, according to the Northampton County district attorney.

And Chief Scott Miller never called police after the crash, which delayed the police response by about an hour and 15 minutes, according to District Attorney Terence Houck.

That delay may have prevented responding police from gathering evidence necessary to charge the chief with drunken driving, Houck concluded.

Instead, Houck charged Miller on Tuesday with driving at an unsafe speed and failing to report the crash. He crashed around midnight Jan. 6 in front of the home of Michael Drosnock at 5715 Kesslersville Road in Plainfield Township, according to police. Houck took a look at the case after receiving anonymous tips and calls from media, including lehighvalleylive.com.

Miller never called police after the crash, Houck said. Instead, he called Lane’s Towing. The tow truck driver couldn’t remove the significantly damaged 2008 Nissan Titan from the site and came back with a bigger tow truck. That’s when he called police around 1:15 a.m., Houck said.

Houck said both front fenders were dented, the grille and mirrors were broken off, headlights were broken and the entire passenger side was dented.

“It was pretty significant stuff,” Houck said.

“I don’t know how he survived the accident. That truck was in really bad shape,” admits Slate Belt Regional Police Department Interim Chief Jonathon Hoadley.

Despite the seriousness of the crash, Miller wasn’t injured, Houck said.

Miller did not return a call left at the Washington Township police station on Tuesday. Both charges against him are summary offenses. They won’t prevent Miller from carrying his weapon or driving. It’s unclear what effect, if any, the investigation will have on his job status. Messages left with the township supervisors and the township solicitor weren’t returned Tuesday.

Houck said responding Slate Belt police officers Joshua Lowe and Sgt. Alan Daly noted Miller’s slurred and “mushmouth” speech. One of them detected the odor of alcohol on his breath, Houck said. But the signs of driving under the influence dissipated during the crash response and the officers determined there wasn’t probable cause to charge Miller, according to Hoadley.

Miller only told them he came from “Forks” prior to the crash. Houck’s investigation showed Miller made credit card charges for food and alcohol at Big Woody’s bar in Forks Township from 4 p.m. until sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight immediately prior to the crash, Houck said. Miller was there with his girlfriend. A bartender at Big Woody’s had “some indication” that Miller was drinking there during that period, Houck said.

Miller was using wintergreen chewing tobacco when police arrived, Houck said. Miller blamed the crash on snowy conditions, according to former Slate Belt Regional Police Chief David Mettin. Mettin was in charge at the time of the crash but retired last week.

The responding officers said the weather conditions prevented them from conducting a field sobriety test of Miller, Houck said.

Hoadley said both officers are trained to spot signs of alcohol impairment. They didn’t administer a breath test or even an eye test because they didn’t think Miller was significantly impaired, Hoadley said. There’s no way to tell how impaired Miller was immediately after the crash, Hoadley said, because they weren’t called until later.

“The passage of time and the loss of potential evidence, if it existed at all, prevented us from establishing a factual basis for probable cause to charge Mr. Miller with drunken driving,” Houck said. “Could things have been done differently? Yes.”

Houck said body camera footage of the incident shows Miller did nothing to intimidate the officers. Nor did he ask for any special treatment. The audio for Lowe’s camera cut off at portions of the broadcast, Houck said. That could be a violation of department policy, Houck said.

Hoadley said officers are allowed to turn off their body camera audio to discuss tactical or operational procedures. That’s what happened here, he said. That lack of audio was not “malicious or intentional,” Hoadley said. However, Lowe forgot to turn his audio back on. Hoadley said he addressed that issue with Lowe.

The issues with the crash response did not warrant any discipline for the officers, Hoadley said. He said he’ll treat the incident as a learning experience for the two men. Both officers have under three years of experience. It was Daly’s first response to a call as a sergeant, Hoadley said.

Hoadley said the officers did not give Miller special treatment. He said Lowe never met Miller and Daly met him two or three times.

“Those two guys give their hearts and soul to the department. There’s not an indecent bone in their bodies,” Hoadley said.

Homeowner Michael Drosnock wasn’t satisfied with Hoadley’s explanation. He believes Miller got special treatment.

“If that would have been me or you, you know the outcome,” Drosnock said.

Drosnock was upset nobody notified him of the crash. Miller took out Drosnock’s landscaping, his stone walkway, an iron water pump, some shingles and the pipe leading to his pellet stove. The crash jarred the pellet stove and Drosnock said it’s fortunate the stove didn’t spill ashes and cause a fire.

The stove pipe leading to the pellet stove inside Michael Drosnock's home was ripped out during the crash on Jan. 6, 2020. The old pipe is on the ground. The new one is in the wall.Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com

Hoadley said by the time his officers arrived the truck had been towed near the street. As a result, they weren’t clear on the extent of the damage to the front of the home. They thought the house was abandoned, Hoadley said. They couldn’t see a mailbox. There weren’t blinds on the windows and when police shined a light inside they didn’t see anybody moving. Nobody came outside despite all the noise and commotion.

Drosnock said he sleeps with earplugs and doesn’t wake up easily.

“I know for a fact that they didn’t look in the garage. I have a brand new car in there and a truck. It tells you the place isn’t abandoned,” Drosnock said.

Hoadley said the officers were shocked the next day when they learned the extent of the damage. He said their lack of notifying Drosnock that night was an honest mistake.

Drosnock was upset with the lack of accountability for both Miller and the responding officers.

“It is what it is. Just give me my check in the mail so I can fix my house up,” he said.

These photos show the landscaping and walkway in front of Michael Drosnock's home before the crash on Jan. 6, 2020.Courtesy Michael Drosnock

These photos show the front of Michael Drosnock's home after the crash on Jan. 6, 2020.Courtesy Michael Drosnock

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.