Serial drunken driver sends I-480 crash victim to intensive care, police say

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Warrensville Heights man with at least eight drunken driving convictions could be facing his ninth, police say, after he plowed his truck into an SUV while intoxicated on Tuesday.

The crash sent a passenger to the hospital in intensive care.

Michael Radcliffe, 39, was charged in Cleveland Municipal Court with aggravated vehicular assault. On Thursday, a judge set his bond at $75,000.

Radcliffe has eight prior convictions of operating a vehicle while intoxicated dating to 2005, according to Cleveland police, though none has risen to the felony level in Cuyahoga County.

Radcliffe was driving his Chevrolet Silverado eastbound on Interstate 480 in the early morning at high speed when he violently struck a GMC Terrain from behind near the State Road exit, police say.

The collision sent the Terrain spinning out of control across lanes until it crashed into the berm, police say. All three of its passengers suffered injuries, and one was admitted to a MetroHealth Medical Center intensive care unit with multiple fractured vertebrae and ribs, according to a police report.

Despite severe damage to the front of his truck, Radcliffe fled the scene but was picked up near the Transportation Boulevard exit by the Valley View police, the report said. He was too intoxicated to perform a field sobriety test and was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, according to authorities.

When Cleveland police interviewed Radcliffe at the hospital, he told officers the last thing he remembered was sitting at a bar, and then he was surrounded by police officers, the report stated.

Asked to sign Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles paperwork, Radcliffe raised his middle finger at an officer, then said, “My life is over,” according to the report.

The victim behind the wheel of the Terrain told police he was rear-ended and didn’t remember anything after that. Another victim also had no memory of the incident.

Radcliffe’s next court hearing is scheduled for June 20.