Coupeville driver who struck building now facing drug charge

A 40-year-old Coupeville man who fell asleep in his SUV after striking a building is facing a drug charge.

Prosecutors charged Nolan Brown in Island County Superior Court May 21 with possession of cocaine.

Island County Sheriff’s Deputy Lane Campbell investigated the unusual accident Jan. 16. A Chevrolet Tahoe struck the Car Quest building on Ault Field Road.

When Campbell arrived, he contacted medical personnel at the scene who said they couldn’t rouse the driver, identified as Nolan, as he was sleeping inside the locked and running vehicle. Nolan was lying across the two seats. The shifter handle was still in “drive.”

The deputy also wasn’t able to awaken Nolan, so he opened the door with a “slim jim.” He grabbed Nolan’s foot and finally woke him.

When Campbell told him that he had hit a building, Nolan replied, “Well, either I hit him or he hit me.”

Campbell wrote that he found a clear glass pipe in the car. Nolan admitted to smoking cocaine and said he hadn’t slept in two days, the report states.

Campbell searched the car and found little baggies of a white substance inside a cigarette package, the report indicates. The substance was tested by the state crime lab and was found to contain cocaine, court documents show.

Nolan told the deputy that he was making a U-turn in his Tahoe and hit the building. Immediately afterward, he felt tired and went to sleep.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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