The Region - News from July 6, 1987

A man suspected of involvement in a hit-and-run accident while intoxicated was found sleeping next to the “drunk wagon” in a police station parking lot half an hour later, authorities said. In the accident, an RTD bus heading west on Temple Street was rammed by a white pickup truck that had run a red light while moving south on Benton Way. Police began a search for the pickup driver, who had fled on foot, and found Thomas Henry Vagas, 33, of New Orleans asleep outside the Rampart Division station, Sgt. Stan Freedman said. Vagas, who had bloody lips, held the keys to the wrecked pickup in his hand, and his license matched the registered owner of the truck, Sgt. Al Ruvalcaba said. Vagas appeared to be drunk, Ruvalcaba said, adding, “I don’t know how he was driving.” Vagas was booked for investigation of misdemeanor drunk driving charges and later released on his own recognizance. No one was injured in the accident.