EVANSVILLE, INDIANA — A 29-year-old Evansville man was arrested Friday after crashing a work truck into a building on North Main Street, driving away, and then being found stepping out of the heavily damaged truck on Garfield Avenue — with 15 empty beer cans scattered throughout the cab and a blood alcohol content of .266, more than three times the legal limit.
Two 911 callers reported seeing a maroon work truck with ladders in the bed strike a building around 3:30 p.m. and flee. One witness followed the truck to Garfield Avenue. When an officer arrived, he found Erik Alberto Pedro Ruiz, 29, stepping out of the driver’s seat of a matching truck with heavy front-end damage.
Officers smelled alcohol on his breath and noted red, watery eyes and droopy eyelids. A preliminary breath test registered a BAC of .266. Pedro Ruiz refused a chemical test and claimed he had not been driving.
At the crash scene, officers found roofing nails scattered across the roadway and sidewalk, gouges in the curb, a damaged light pole, and a large gouge in the brick wall of the building with chunks of brick on the sidewalk. The truck had left the roadway, driven onto the sidewalk, struck the light pole, and then hit the front of the building. The bumper, hood, and grille were pushed inward.
Investigators also found that Pedro Ruiz had never received a driver’s license in Indiana and had an active warrant for failure to appear stemming from a May 2025 arrest for operating while intoxicated and driving without ever receiving a license — an incident in which police say he drove into a parked car while highly intoxicated.
Pedro Ruiz was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, operating while intoxicated endangering, leaving the scene of a crash, and operating without ever obtaining a license. He is being held at the Vanderburgh County Detention Center on no bond.
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