BUTLER TWP — A Butler man was nearly four times the legal limit for alcohol in November when he crashed his car into a pole at a store’s gas pumps, police said.

The late night wreck left Lawrence R. Kopicki, 51, seriously injured and hospitalized.

Butler Township police on Friday charged Kopicki with drunken driving in the Nov. 4 crash.

The defendant is accused of losing control of his vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. and slamming into a protective pole at the gas pumps at the Sheetz convenience store on New Castle Road. The pumps were not damaged.

Kopicki was flown by STAT medevac helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh with head and facial injuries that police described as severe. He was later released.

Results of a blood test, according to a police report, subsequently showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.30 percent at the time of the wreck. A level of 0.08 percent is considered intoxicated under state law.

Kopicki is charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving. His preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 17.