Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A grand jury indicted Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate on additional charges from a March 8, 2019, vehicle crash.

Pate is accused of drunken driving, assault and other offenses. The new indictment handed up Wednesday supersedes the previous indictment handed up in April.

Pate is now charged with assault, operating under the influence (second offense), four counts of wanton endangerment, two counts of criminal mischief and leaving the scene of the accident. The assault and criminal mischief charges against Pate are new. He no longer will be charged with tampering with physical evidence. The grand jury did not indict on the tampering charge Wednesday.

Pate is scheduled for arraignment on the revised charges Nov. 15 in Hardinsburg. According to the new indictments, the special prosecutor in the case recommended that a judge continue Pate’s $10,000 bond as posted after his initial arraignment in June.

The indictment accuses Pate of driving drunk when he crashed into two other vehicles on KY 259 and left four people hurt. Records released in March show Pate's blood alcohol content was .159, nearly twice the legal limit.

Authorities said Pate was driving his personal vehicle, a 2018 Chevrolet pickup, at the time of the crash.

The case marks Pate’s second DUI arrest. His previous DUI arrest was in October 2015, in a Waffle House parking lot in Bowling Green. In that case, he was charged with DUI, reckless driving and terroristic threatening. He didn't spend any time in jail, because his 30-day sentence was suspended. He paid an $800 fine.

Pate remains on the job as sheriff, though bond restrictions ordered in June do not allow him to drive or carry a firearm.

County residents have petitioned for Pate to resign. Kentucky law does not allow voter recall of an elected sheriff. Pate has served as Breckinridge County sheriff since 2003.

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