A New Jersey man poured water on a freezing road to create black ice trying to cover up his drunken car crash, police said.
Bryan Byers collided with a guardrail after running a stop sign in a BMW early Saturday, police said. Shortly after, Byers’ friend Alexander Zambenedetti arrived in his own car and dumped 5-gallon buckets of water onto the road to create black ice.
An officer saw Zambenedetti with two buckets of water in the back set at 2:45 a.m., police said. Zambenedetti was shirtless despite a wind chill of 15 below zero.
The Sparta, N.J. man confessed to the plan of creating black ice. His accident left skid marks vsible under the thin layer of ice at the intersection, authorities said.
Byers was arrested Saturday and charged with drunken driving and other offenses. Zambenedetti was also charged with drunken driving.
"I've seen a lot of dumb stuff," police Sgt. Dennis Proctor said. “But not this dumb."
It took a half-ton of salt to melt the ice to make the road passable, police said.
The officer who saw Byers running towards his friend’s car said Byers drove his car home after hitting the guardrail before returning to the accident. The car’s license plate was still on the road.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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