A Mobile man is facing felony assault charges after authorities say he caused a head-on crash on Newman Road that seriously injured three people earlier this year.
Keith Duane Bumpers, 42, was taken into custody and booked into Mobile County Metro Jail on two counts of first-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault, according to court records. He remained in custody the following day.
The case stems from a wreck that happened in late January along Newman Road in Mobile County. Investigators say Bumpers was driving north in a pickup truck when he crossed into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle head-on. Witnesses estimated his truck was traveling roughly 80 mph at the time of impact, according to the police narrative filed in the case.
The force of the collision reportedly flipped the oncoming vehicle onto its side and threw passengers who had been riding in its bed onto the roadway. The driver of that vehicle and two passengers suffered serious injuries; officials did not release further detail on the extent of those injuries.
A blood test administered after the crash indicated Bumpers was under the influence of alcohol along with several prescription medications at the time he was driving, according to the arresting trooper’s report. Investigators with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency handled the crash reconstruction and turned their findings over to prosecutors, who secured the arrest warrants roughly six months after the wreck occurred.
Cases involving a lengthy gap between a crash and formal charges are not unusual in Alabama, where toxicology results, accident reconstruction and grand jury scheduling can take months to complete before warrants are issued. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Alabama State Troopers both participated in the investigation.
The incident is a reminder of the dangers of impaired driving on rural stretches of roadway across Mobile County, where narrow two-lane roads like Newman Road carry a mix of local and through traffic with little separation between opposing lanes. Local law enforcement agencies continue to emphasize sobriety checkpoints and patrols on county roads as part of ongoing efforts to reduce serious crashes.
The case remains active in Mobile County court records as it proceeds through the judicial process.