Assistant Fire Chief Arrested After DUI Incident
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ind. — Thomas Nienaber, 67, the assistant fire chief for the Elizabethtown Volunteer Fire Department, was arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated after a single-vehicle crash on Sunday night.
According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Nienaber was responding to a reported structure fire on South 750 East in a fire department pickup truck with its lights and sirens activated when the vehicle left the roadway. The truck then rolled into the front lawn of a home in the 12000 block of E. Legal Tender Road.
Thomas Nienaber, Assistant Fire Chief
Deputies arriving at the scene found the fire department pickup truck on its side in the home’s driveway. Nienaber was trapped inside and required assistance from fire crews to be removed.
The fire department pickup truck involved in the crash.
Following the extraction, the sheriff’s department reported that Nienaber appeared to be intoxicated and was transported to a local hospital for a blood draw. He was subsequently taken into custody on drunk driving charges and booked into the Bartholomew County Jail.
Nienaber has since been released on bond. Official charges in the case have not yet been filed. The Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office will determine what charges, if any, are ultimately filed.
