Mass. driver admits drinking before upper deck highway crash

BOSTON - A Boston man says he had been drinking - but was not drunk - when his pickup truck launched off the upper deck of Interstate 93, crashing into the lower deck on Sunday morning, reports CBS Boston.

Vannak Sao, 33, is facing charges of operating under the influence of liquor and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, according to the station.

Traffic cameras reportedly recorded his truck crashing through a light pole, an exit sign and chain link fencing before plummeting into the lower deck - narrowly missing another car.

A third-shift worker who was just adjusting to a new job and schedule, Sao says he fell asleep at the wheel before the crash at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Left with only a fractured nose and swollen eye, he admitted he had been drinking, but denies that he was drunk at the time of the incident, reports CBS Boston.

His family told the station that that they are grateful Sao survived the crash

"He said he probably fell asleep or something and hit the snowbank or slip and slide. I'm not sure yet," Vanny Sao, the driver's father, told CBS Boston.

According to the station, records show that Sao had been cited for speeding five times and has been found at fault in two crashes - but he says that those happened while he was younger.

The barrier is supposed to absorb some of the impact when a vehicle crashes into it, but it was reportedly covered in snow and ice.

According to CBS Boston, two crashes sent trucks over the guardrail on a nearby highway in 2013.