An elephant made him do it

A 31-year-old New Castle, Delaware, man was arrested for his seventh felony DUI offense after he hit a guardrail to avoid hitting an elephant, state police have said.

Samuel Phipps was committed to Young Correctional Institution on charges of seventh offense DUI for driving a vehicle under the influence of a drug and failure to have the required insurance, Cpl. John Day said.

The incident occurred shortly before 9 p.m. Friday. Day said Phipps drove his red 2008 Land Rover off the road and hit a left guardrail. Day said a trooper found Phipps to be impaired at the scene and when asked, he told the trooper that prior to driving he had smoked a joint that had been dipped in PCP.

Phipps went on to tell the trooper that he had swerved to avoid hitting an elephant in the road that ran in front of his vehicle and crashed into the guardrail. Day said to the best of his knowledge, no elephants were running loose near New Castle on Friday night. Phipps is being held in lieu of $21,000 secured bail.