Driver arrested following injury crash in Pike County

George Swiney George Swiney
Scene of Wednesday night's crash on old U.S. 460 near Indian Hills Liquor Store.
Scene of Wednesday night’s crash on old U.S. 460 near Indian Hills Liquor Store.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — An Elkhorn City man has been arrested on DUI and felony charges, following a crash between his truck and a motorcycle.

George Swiney
George Swiney

It happened just before 9:30 Wednesday night on old U.S. 460 near Indian Hills Liquor Store. Witnesses told Pikeville Police that the motorcycle collided with a truck, and the operator of the motorcycle was found unresponsive at the scene.

The truck was found in the liquor store parking lot, and police talked with a woman sitting in the truck. After first telling police she had been driving, she later changed her story and said she was a passenger, but the driver had left the scene.

Police later found the man believed to have driven the truck — identified as 54-year-old George Swiney — at a fireworks stand in the nearby Food City parking lot.

When police attempted to question him, he refused to answer questions or take part in a field sobriety test, and he asked to speak to an attorney.

Police allege Swiney smelled strongly of alcohol and that he told them as he was being placed in a police car that the motorcycle hit him and he did not pull out in front of it.

Breath tests at the jail failed, so police obtained a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from him.

Swiney was ultimately charged with DUI, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and leaving the scene of an accident. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Swiney is being held in the Pike County Detention Center on a $25,000 cash bond.