Wythe County judge to be in court on hit and run charge next month

A Wythe County juvenile court judge charged with a hit-and-run crash in Powhatan County will appear in Powhatan General District Court on June 27, the county prosecutor said.

On April 27, M. Keith Blankenship, 43, was driving north on Huguenot Springs Road in a 2006 Subaru Forester at 5:15 p.m. when he swerved off the right side of the road and struck a telephone-line box, a state police spokeswoman said.

Blankenship’s vehicle continued into a yard beside the telephone-line box, then crossed the road, hit an embankment and uprooted a tree in another yard, the spokeswoman said.

No one was injured, and several witnesses saw the crash. That evening, state police found Blankenship at a hotel in Chesterfield County.

A month earlier, Blankenship had been charged with driving under the influence in Smyth County.