POCATELLO — A 42-year-old local man was arrested on several charges after police say he drunkenly fell out of his moving SUV as it drove through a busy Pocatello intersection Tuesday evening before leaving a building in near ruins.

TJ Marcus Christensen, of Pocatello, has been charged with two counts of felony malicious injury to property as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and reckless driving following a Pocatello police investigation.

The incident began to unfold around 6 p.m. when officers received a report of a single-vehicle ejection crash in the area of the Garrett Way and East Gould Street intersection, police said in a report included in an affidavit of probable cause filed in 6th District Court on Wednesday. Witnesses told dispatch that the driver, later identified as Christensen, fled the scene on foot.

Three witnesses who were driving west on East Gould Street at the time told officers they observed a white 2008 Chevrolet Suburban turning westbound onto East Gould Street from southbound Garrett Way when the driver fell out of the driver’s door and onto the roadway while the vehicle was still in motion, the police report says.

The unoccupied vehicle continued off the roadway on the northwest side of the road and traveled through the lot at 1527 N. Second Ave., crashing into the building there, the report states. Witnesses said Christensen got up, went to his vehicle inside the building and rammed his way out through a garage door on the north side, police said.

Christensen then drove around to the fenced-in backside of the building, turned around and rammed a gate on the north side of the lot in order to get out onto the road, court records show. He then drove west and left the scene.

Evidence at the scene showed Christensen had moved his vehicle multiple times to ram the garage door and gate to escape, police said.

In addition to causing heavy damage to the building’s west wall, Christensen crashed through two garage doors, resulting in damages in excess of $50,000, police said. The damage to the fence and gate on the property is valued at $10,000.

Officers located Christensen minutes later near his residence in the area of Jones Drive, standing outside his heavily damaged white Suburban with a head injury consistent with being in a car crash, the report says.

The officer told Christensen to “stop right there” and to sit on the curb, but he instead “stood with a wobble” and, with glassy eyes, replied, “I don’t have to have a seat,” before slowly walking away, police said.

He continued to refuse the officer’s verbal commands and a brief struggle ensued before he was taken into custody, according to the report.

Following a search of the SUV, officers seized a plastic baggie with marijuana residue, a small rubber container with a yellow wax-like substance that tested positive for THC and a marijuana pipe found on the driver’s side floorboard, police said.

During an interview with officers, Christensen refused to confirm he was driving the vehicle but consented to a breathalyzer test, the highest result of which was 0.160 — twice Idaho’s legal limit of 0.08, the report says. A review of his criminal history determined this incident would be a second-offense DUI, which carries stricter penalties.

He was subsequently booked into the Bannock County Jail in Pocatello.

Christensen appeared before 6th District Magistrate Judge David A. Hooste for an arraignment hearing Wednesday where he entered not guilty pleas on all misdemeanor charges and his bond was set at $10,100. Christensen posted the bond Wednesday and was released from jail.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on March 17 for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors will attempt to present sufficient evidence to elevate the case from magistrate to district court for trial.

If convicted on both felony charges, Christensen faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000. The second-offense DUI charge carries penalties of at least 10 days in jail, up to $2,000 in fines and a mandatory one-year driver’s license suspension.