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SEVEN HILLS, Ohio (WJW) — Councilperson-At-Large John R. Kulju told police he had “a lot” to drink the morning he was arrested and charged with drunk driving and crashing through mailboxes with his car, according to police reports.

Seven Hills police responded just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, to the 7500 block of McCreary Road, on a report of a vehicle that had struck two mailboxes in the area and narrowly missed a resident.

A resident said she was checking her mail when she was almost hit by Kulju’s white SUV after it went off the road and struck her mailbox. He didn’t stop, she said.

While the officer was talking with the resident, Kulju’s vehicle came back in the other direction, its front end damaged and dragging debris according to reports. The officer stopped Kulju along Wynde Tree Drive, the street on which Kulju lives, according to his driver’s license.

The officer “immediately” smelled alcohol and noted Kulju appeared confused, and that his speech was slowed, reports state. Kulju also said he wasn’t sure how the front of his car got damaged, the report states.

“I asked John how much he had to drink and he replied ‘a lot,'” the officer wrote.

John R. Kulju (Seven Hills Police Department)

Kulju, 63, was arrested and placed into a patrol car. He had a blood-alcohol content of 0.264, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to a test done later at the Independence police station.

Kulju’s license was put under an administrative suspension and held for court.

He pleaded not guilty in Parma Municipal Court to counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, having a blood-alcohol content of more than 0.17 and failure to control. He posted 10% of a $5,000 cash bond.

Kulju’s case is set for a pretrial in the Parma court on Monday, Oct. 17.

FOX 8 left a voicemail for Kulju seeking comment.