Driver who mistook a canal for a road may have been drunk

A West Richland man has been arrested on suspicion of being drunk after rolling his car in a dry canal bed.

Ward Moberg, 56, tried to make a right hand turn from Ranch Road onto Canal Road near West Richland on Saturday night, said the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

Instead, his car went into the adjacent canal bed.

He drove 600 feet down the canal before trying to drive up its bank, only to hit a large concrete irrigation box, according to a sheriff’s office report posted on social media.

The crash was enough to roll his car onto its side in the canal bed. First responders helped him out of his car.

Moberg was booked into the Benton County jail about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.