By Schuyler Kropf
The Post and Courier
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — A Mount Pleasant Fire Department captain was arrested on charges of driving under the influence early Sunday after he allegedly crashed a town-owned fire vehicle into a disabled car on Interstate 526.
Capt. Robert Wronski, 44, was driving a 2007 Fire Department Ford Explorer when the incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. on the westbound side of the interstate, near the Montague Avenue exit in North Charleston.
The struck vehicle was a 1994 Jeep belonging to driver Shawn Bucholz, 38.
According to South Carolina Highway Patrol, Bucholz was halted in the emergency lane next to the wall on I-526 but was still partially on the interstate. The Jeep did have its emergency flashers on.
Bucholz said Sunday he was sitting in the driver’s seat on his cell phone calling a friend to come get him when the other vehicle came up fast and plowed into him.
“He just ran into me,” Bucholz said. Being in the car at the time of the collision “probably saved my life,” he said.
Bucholz was at Medical University Hospital and said he had multiple injuries, including to his back, neck and elbows.
Mount Pleasant Fire Chief Herbert Williams said Sunday that Wronski is on administrative leave without pay, and that further comment on his status will come after he receives more information on the accident.
Wronski is the department’s medical training officer and had been with the department about four years. He did have “take-home” driving privileges with the town’s fire vehicle in case he had to respond to an emergency, the chief said.
After the collision, Wronski was transported to Roper St. Francis Hospital but was released around 4 a.m., the Highway Patrol said.
He was then arrested and taken to the Charleston County Detention Center, charged with driving under the influence. Wronski was released Sunday on a personal recognizance bond, the detention center said.
The collision remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
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