A Lake County Sheriff's deputy is facing alcohol-related charges after crashing into a parked car in Schererville early Tuesday, according to the Indiana State Police.

Schererville Police requested Indiana State Police assistance at 3 a.m. after Lake County Sheriff Sgt. Joseph Hardiman, 34, crashed into a parked car in the 5400 block of 75th Avenue in Schererville, a release said.

According to the release, Hardiman told Trooper Jason Pratt he had attempted to avoid a deer that ran in front of his personal vehicle, a 2009 Ford van. He then drove to the left side of the road and struck a parked, unoccupied 2007 Dodge Caliber, the release said. Damage to both vehicles was extensive.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Tuesday that Hardiman was being held at the Lake County Jail after registering a blood alcohol content of .19 percent, more than twice the legal limit. The State Police will handle the investigation.

“He has been placed on administrative leave,” Buncich said.

Hardiman will have an initial appearance before the sheriff's merit board in December, Buncich said. Union rules require he be paid while on leave.

The arrest is the third alcohol-related charge against a sheriff's department officer in just under two years and comes on the heels of the indictment of Buncich and Tim Downs, his chief of police, Friday on public corruption charges.

Buncich, who declined comment Tuesday on the indictment, Downs and tow company owner William Szarmach were named in a multicount indictment alleging an illegal towing scheme in which the sheriff accepted bribes in the form of thousands of dollars in cash and donations to his campaign fund, Buncich's Boosters. All three are facing charges of wire fraud, while Buncich and Szarmach also are charged with bribery.

In July, Lt. Guy Mikulich, was charged with drunken driving and leaving the scene of a crash that left an Illinois man injured in Gary. The crash occurred after he left the Gary Air Show where he was in uniform working security. He was driving his county-issued unmarked Ford Crown Victoria at the time, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty.

In the second incident, former Sheriff's Department employee David Britton, of Cedar Lake, was found guilty of three class A misdemeanor charges including operating while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration of .15 percent or higher, operating while intoxicated endangering a person and failure to stop after an accident resulting in injury stemming from a hit-and-run crash Feb. 1, 2015, in Crown Point.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.