A 42-year-old Bainbridge Island man was charged with driving under the influence after he was arrested at the scene of a three-car collision near the Kitsap Mall on Thanksgiving evening.

Police were called to two separate drivers suspected of DUI after the crash at 7:46 p.m. Nov. 24 at NW Randall Way and Kitsap Mall Boulevard.

When a trooper with the State Patrol arrived, a deputy with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office pointed the officer to a man sitting in a KIA Optima and the deputy said he could smell alcohol on the Bainbridge man’s breath. The driver also allegedly told the deputy he had consumed five or six IPA beers in the last few hours before the collision.

When the man was asked to step out of his car, he was unsteady on his feet. He tried to explain how the crash had occurred, according to the State Patrol investigation report, but was not making any sense and his speech was slurred.

The Bainbridge man failed field sobriety tests and a breath test resulted in a reading of .161.

When the driver was told he was being arrested for DUI, he became angry and claimed he was being arrested because he was a Latino.

The man’s vehicle was impounded. On the way to the Kitsap County Jail, the man said he needed to use the bathroom and had extreme mood swings.

The man also told the trooper she would deserve any backlash she got because of the arrest.

“After yelling at me for a few minutes he would start flirting with me, telling me I was a good officer and that he knew I was just doing my job,” the trooper wrote in her report. “Then his mood would change and he would get angry with his best friend who he stated he had to get drunk with because his friend was having a hard time and was going to be alone on Thanksgiving.”