Go-cart joyride ends in DUI and assault charges

newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A go-cart spin around the yard turned ugly Saturday night in North Pole when the driver of an adult-sized go-cart crashed into a man standing under a carport tent, badly breaking his leg.

The driver of the go-cart, 34-year-old Robert T. Wilkins of North Pole, ended up in prison on drunken driving and felony assault charges while the man who was hit, Richard H. Smith, 51, wound up in the hospital.

“His left leg was pretty much shattered,” Alaska State Trooper J.A. Woodruff said of Smith, who spent the night at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital before being released.

Wilkins, whose breath-alcohol content was measured at 0.219 percent, nearly three times the legal limit, was being held in Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Wilkins’ 8-year-old son was riding in the go-cart with him at the time of the accident, Woodruff said.

According to witness reports, Wilkins was going about 35 mph when he struck Smith in a Go Cart Crossfire 150R in the yard of a home on Scougal Road off Bradway Road.

“It’s not anything like you think of as a children’s go-cart,” Woodruff said of the rig Wilkins was driving. “This is an adult model. They’re basically a mini-dune buggy.”

Smith was pinned between the go-cart and a kitchen stove when the tent was pushed up against the garage as a result of the impact, Woodruff said.

“He tried to jump basically over the go-cart because there was nowhere to go,” the trooper said. “He got one leg out of the way and the go-cart caught him in the air.

“He ran him right into the stove, and the stove hit the wall,” Woodruff said.

Troopers found Wilkins hiding in the kitchen when they arrived. He offered differing stories as to who was driving the go-cart, him or his son, but witnesses, including Smith, put Wilkins behind the wheel. Witnesses said Smith had been drinking at the home all day long.

Neither Wilkins or his son, neither of whom were wearing helmets, were injured. The boy was seat-belted into the go-cart, but Wilkins was not, the trooper said.

Wilkins is being held on $5,000 bail.