By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
RIVERVIEW — A 41-year-old Woodhaven man with two prior drunken driving arrests was taken into custody the night of Oct. 19 and his vehicle license plate was destroyed and replaced with a temporary paper plate.
The man was subject to a traffic stop after committing several moving violations in front of a police officer on patrol, first on eastbound Pennsylvania Road and then on southbound Fort Street.
When a traffic stop was initiated, the man pulled into a nearby parking lot and drove over a grassy area not intended for vehicle traffic before finally coming to a stop.
The man admitted to drinking too many Long Island iced teas. He had glossy, bloodshot eyes, his speech was slurred and he smelled of intoxicants.
The man failed multiple standardized field sobriety tests. A preliminary breath test was administered, and the man had a blood-alcohol content of 0.179, more than twice the 0.08 limit for legally drunk in Michigan.
The Ford F-150 pickup he was driving was impounded and towed and the man was taken to the Riverview police station for booking, where he refused to take an additional chemical breath test.
A search warrant was then obtained for a blood draw, and the man was taken to Beaumont Hospital, Trenton, for the procedure.