Suspected drunken driver crashes into Minnesota cemetery, home of Sinclair Lewis' grave

A suspected drunken driver crashed in a historic central Minnesota cemetery that's home to the remains of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says deputies were called to Greenwood Cemetery in Sauk Centre just before 3 a.m. after "an unoccupied truck had gone through a stone fence and struck numerous grave markers."

Soon after, someone called 911 and hung up. The sheriff's office says deputies connected the vehicle to a 19-year-old from Long Prairie about 20 miles north.   

The man was arrested and driven to Sauk Centre Hospital for "further investigation and evaluation of his injuries," authorities say. As of Monday, he is now in the county jail awaiting criminal charges.

Investigators believe the man "failed to stop at a T intersection" before smashing into the cemetery.

The sheriff's office says the cemetery sustained around $50,000 in damage. The investigation is ongoing.

Lewis — author of classic and influential early 20th-century novels like "Babbitt," "Elmer Gantry" and "Main Street" — was born in Sauk Centre in 1885, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. He died in Rome in 1951, but wanted to be buried in his hometown, which celebrates Sinclair Lewis Days each July. It's unclear if Lewis' gravestone was damaged in the crash.

Sauk Centre is about 50 miles northwest of St. Cloud, and around 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis.