Driver Wipes Out Portion of Shem Creek Bridge

It must have been quite the site.

A driver struck a palmetto tree in the median on Coleman Blvd., swerved across the roadway and then wiped out 30 feet of cement and metal guardrail on the Shem Creek Bridge.

When police arrived, one of the SUV's tires was hanging over the bridge, and the car was dangling precariously over the creek and marsh below.

Somehow the Isuzu SUV did not manage to go over the railing, and the driver escaped without physical harm, but she now faces criminal charges, according to a police report.

Destiny Bree Hetz, 20, of Mount Pleasant refused to take field sobriety or breath or blood tests after the 1:45 a.m. crash Sunday, but officers said she appeared intoxicated, according to a report.

Hetz had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, her speech was slurred and her eyes were red, officers wrote. But Hetz said she had only one beer before the crash.

She was booked into the Charleston County jail on a single count of DUI. Workers have secured the bridge with wood railings and temporary metal railings.

The bridge is owned and maintained by the State Department of Transportation, according town officials. It was inspected since the crash, and it remains structurally sound, said town administrator Eric DeMoura, though it is obvioulsy in need of repair.