Local News

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for impaired driving, drug possession and vehicle theft yesterday following an incident in the southeast part of the city.

The Police Department reports officers responded to an unconscious man inside a Mercedes Benz that had crashed into a parked car in the 200-block of Grandview Lane on Thursday around 1:20 p.m.. The driver's head was down and not moving.

Police said they were forced to break a window on the Mercedes in order to unlock the car and contact 38-year-old Travis James Buckel for a potential drug overdose. They said drug paraphernalia was observed in plain sight and it was apparent that Buckel was under in the influence of drugs while he was driving the car, crashed into the parked vehicle and stopped on a curb with the engine still running.

According to the report, officers recovered a small amount of fentanyl from the car, which had been reported stolen. No property damage occurred to either vehicle due to low-impact speed.

Buckel was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, Driving Under the Influence of Controlled Substances and Possession of Fentanyl. He was being held without bail and the stolen Mercedes was recovered.