Rome Man Hits Building With Van, Flees

Rome, NY (WIBX) - A Rome man is charged with several crimes following a bizarre incident at the Nice-N-Easy in the Town of Lee.

According to the Oneida County Sheriff's Office, a call was received around 3:30 this morning for a white van with a flat tire traveling northbound, on Turin Road, at a high rate of speed. The caller claimed the van pulled into M&M Collision, but when officers arrived, the van was gone.

Soon after, another call was made from the Nice-N-Easy, where a clerk said a white van had allegedly struck the building repeatedly and hit a customer's vehicle, then fled southbound on Route 26.

Officers soon spotted the vehicle, without its front tire.

The driver, Flavio Benavidez, 66, continued south toward the city of Rome. When the van finally came to a stop in the city's outer district, Benavidez was arrested and determined by a Drug Recognition Expert to be on drugs.

Benavidez is charged with misdemeanor DWAI Drugs and DWI, along with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to keep right and moving from lane unsafely.