A 30-year-old woman was arrested last week because she had difficulty balancing while walking heel to toe in a straight line for officers who had asked the woman to take a field sobriety test. An Athens-Clarke County Police report states that officers had reason to suspect that the woman had been driving under the influence of drugs.
On July 10, police reported that a female driver ran a red light and almost struck a telephone pole with her vehicle. According to police, this occurred while the woman was also driving her car on the wrong side of the road. The woman was pulled over and questioned by police at a local Rite Aid store.
Officers reported that the driver appeared to be disoriented when she was stopped at the Rite Aid parking lot by police. When responding to officers’ questions about why she had ran the red light and was driving on the wrong side of the road, police noted that the woman’s speech was slurred and that the woman appeared to be having trouble balancing.
According to the Athens-Clarke County Police report, officers could not detect the odor of alcohol on the woman’s breath. However, because she appeared to be intoxicated, the woman was still asked to take a field sobriety test. One of the tests was a balance test, which required the woman to walk in a straight line with her heels pressed to her toes after each step. Police noted that the woman had difficulty balancing during the test and that she had even told officers that the test was challenging for her.
After failing the test, the driver was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs. Police reported that the woman had allegedly taken a pain reliever prior to driving.
Source: AthensPatch, “Woman Arrested for DUI, Complains About Difficulty of Safe Driving Test,” Tiffany Stevens, July 11, 2012