Driver allegedly takes mushrooms, arrested after crash

HUNTER, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A driver who allegedly admitted to taking psilocybin cubensis (mushrooms) was arrested after getting into a single-car crash and possessing a quantity of drugs. Alexander Rakita, 40, of South Easton, Massachusetts, faces several charges.

On Tuesday around 2:45 a.m., police responded to State Route 23A in Hunter for a reported single-car crash. Police say they found a 2015 black Nissan Pathfinder in a ditch with the back end partially still in the road. Police say no one was in the car. They started searching the area before finding a man with blood on his clothes walking with a dog in a parking lot adjacent to State Route 23A.

Police identified the man as Rakita. Police say he had a hard time standing, and he admitted that the car in the crash was his. Police also say Rakita admitted to taking mushrooms. Police took him to Columbia Memorial Health for an evaluation. Rakita was medically cleared and released.

Charges:

• Driving while ability impaired by drugs
• Second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance
• Third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance

Police say they searched Rakita's car and found roughly 70 grams of psilocybin cubensis (mushrooms). He was arraigned in the Town of Catskill Court and held at the Greene County Jail in lieu of bail. He has a return date of February 15 at 2 p.m. His dog was taken to the Columbia Greene Humane Society.