A young Schuylkill Haven man escaped death late Friday night when involved in a violent 100-mile-per-hour plus crash along SR895 in West Penn Township.

West Penn township police officer Jason Lorah was investigating a crash at the intersection of SR895 and Dorsett Road, a car versus deer. During that investigation Lorah heard the sound of squealing tires, a thunderous impact and additional impacts. Lorah raced to the scene which was a short distance from his location and found a late model Nissan Z was traveling west and apparently failed to negotiate a slight left curve in the roadway.The car went broadside crossing the two lanes of the roadway, slid across the parking lot of Bailey's True Value Hardware store, impacted with and snapped off a utility pole. The unit continued down a steep embankment rolling and tumbling through a field before coming to rest on its wheels.What astonished Lorah was he found the operator had extricated himself from the wreckage and walked back to the road surface apparently without serious injury. Lorah reported the car had slid 250 feet across the roadway and parking lot and traveled another 268 feet through the field, more than 500 feet out of control. Members of the Penn Mahoning ambulance and Lehighton paramedics examined the victim at the scene before transporting him to an area hospital for evaluation and a blood alcohol test.The driver did confess to Lorah that he was traveling in excess of a 100-miles-per-hour and he had been drinking about an hour before the crash. Responding was the West Penn Fire Company #1 whose fire police maintained traffic control at the scene.