The vehicle got stuck on rocks in the Pass. /Courtesy: UDPS

A man was arrested on charges of stealing a car and crashing it while intoxicated Tuesday night on Overland Drive.

Deputy police chief Mike Holman says they got the call about a crash in the Pass, above Summer Bay Lake, from a person who'd driven by. 

When they got there around 7 p.m., officers found a Subaru Outback that had been reported missing from the high school parking lot that afternoon. The driver, 33-year-old Adam Shapsnikoff, was still behind the wheel.

"When officers contacted him, he was somewhat aggressive, exhibiting signs of consuming alcohol," Holman says.

Shapsnikoff’s blood-alcohol content was around .215, Holman says. He wasn’t injured, but the station wagon was stuck on rocks in a ditch. Shapsnikoff had reportedly been spinning its wheels trying to get free, which Holman says did some damage to the brand-new tires.

Shapsnikoff was arraigned Wednesday morning on felony DUI and vehicle theft charges, plus misdemeanors for damaging the tires and driving with a suspended license. Court records show he has a long history of combined and separate arrests for driving under the influence and car theft.

But in this case, Holman says things could have gotten ugly -- since Shapsnikoff’s alleged crash happened at night in the rain, in a part of the Pass with no cell service.

"It’s a pretty dangerous area up there," Holman says. "There’s some steep hillsides, you can go off the road -- could easily get the driver injured and the vehicle damaged substantially. In this case, he fortunately just went barely off the road and was not injured."

And Holman says this should also serve as a warning to drivers to keep their vehicles secure: The keys were inside the car when it went missing. Holman says that’s been the case more often than not in the 24 vehicle thefts they’ve seen in the past two years.