A long-time Habersham County Sheriff’s investigator is in the hospital and out of a job tonight after wrecking his patrol vehicle and allegedly testing positive for alcohol. The Georgia State Patrol charged Chance Oxner with DUI less safe and failure to maintain lane after he wrecked his county-issued patrol truck late Monday night in Mt. Airy.
According to GSP, Oxner was driving the 2005 Ford F-350 south on Camp Creek Road, approaching Hazel Creek Road, when he lost control of the truck. The vehicle ran off the west shoulder of the road and hit a 911 address sign. Oxner then overcorrected, and the truck overturned multiple times. He was partially ejected and suffered serious injuries. First responders had to extricate him from the wreckage.
Habersham EMS transported Oxner to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment.
GSP Post 7 Commander Donnie Saddler issued a press release regarding the accident late Tuesday afternoon. He says a trooper was dispatched to the scene around 11:34 p.m. Monday. The trooper was advised at the scene that the crash involved a Habersham County Sheriff’s Office investigator.
The trooper interviewed Oxner at the hospital around 1:19 a.m. Tuesday and, according to Saddler, Oxner admitted to taking Ambien and drinking wine before driving. The trooper then administered a field breathalyzer test.
“The Trooper asked if he [Oxner] would blow into the alcosensor due to the smell of alcohol emitting from his person, and he agreed,” Saddler says. “The alcosensor was positive for alcohol with a reading of .052 with a partial blow of air.”
The trooper placed Oxner under arrest then requested Oxner’s consent for a state-administered blood test, “which he refused by saying ‘no,'” Saddler says.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office says Oxner was not on duty at the time of the accident. They launched an internal investigation and, late Tuesday, HCSO released a statement saying Oxner had been fired:
“As a result of the findings of the Georgia State Patrol, the related criminal charges, and facts uncovered as part of the internal investigation, it has been determined that several violations of sheriff’s office policy have in fact occurred. As a result of these findings, Chance Oxner’s employment with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated.”
As of Tuesday morning, Oxner remained hospitalized in stable condition. HCSO spokesperson Lt. Matthew Wurtz says he was “not reported to have any life-threatening injuries.” Commander Saddler says Oxner will be booked into the Habersham County Detention Center once he’s released from the hospital.
This is not Oxner’s first brush with the law. The 52-year-old now-former investigator was arrested and jailed last July following an altercation with his son. They were both charged with battery.
