OPTIONS

By Sr. Agent Duane Taylor

     Everyday of our lives, we are faced with some sort of decision making, or some type of option. Some of these may be trivial; others may be more life altering. This is a true story that occurred at the Region 2 office in Monroe, around noon on Friday, August 24, 2001.

     Senior Agent Thomas Risser and I had worked a boating accident that occurred on the Ouachita River back in the middle of June. An insurance investigator wanted to meet with us to discuss some issues about the accident. This was arranged through Captain Johnny Ferrington. Sr. Agent Risser and I, met with Captain Ferrington and the investigator at the Region 2 office around 11:00 am. Around 12:00 noon, a man walked into the office and went to Captain Ferrington's office to discuss some questions he had about a boat registration. A short time later, Captain Ferrington asked me to follow him into his office and talk to the subject. I could smell the alcohol before I ever got into his office.

     I talked briefly to the man and he appeared to be VERY intoxicated. I asked him how he got to the office and he told me that he had driven himself. Since nobody saw him driving, we knew we didn’t have a case, BUT if we let him drive off, it would be a problem. To avoid this situation, I told him that I felt like he was intoxicated and that he had a couple of OPTIONS.

     The first option would be to sit in a chair in the lobby of the office until he sobered up. The second option would be that I would call somebody to come to the office and pick him up, BUT if he got in his vehicle and drove away, I would arrest him for DWI.

     He agreed and went to the front lobby and sat down. Captain Ferrington had gone to get him some lunch and Sr. Agent Risser and I were finishing some paperwork and were going to leave when he returned. Everything was going good for about twenty minutes. This is when Sr. Agent Risser noticed that the man was no longer sitting in the lobby. Thinking that he may have walked down the hall, Sr. Agent Risser went looking for him. I looked out of the window and saw the man driving out of the parking lot. I told Sr. Agent Risser that he was driving off and ran to my truck. I left in pursuit of the vehicle just as Lt. Alan Bankston was pulling into the office. Sr. Agent Risser jumped into the truck with Lt. Bankston, who did not have a clue as to what was going on.

    I caught up with the vehicle on Hwy 165 approximately a half-mile from the office. He saw me approaching him and made a U-turn and headed back toward the office. I had my blue lights on, but he was refusing to stop. Lt. Bankston and Sr. Agent Risser passed him and forced him to stop. Lt. Bankston called for Louisiana State Police Troop F in Monroe for assistance from a trooper. Lt. Bankston administered the Standard Field Sobriety Test to the man, of which he could do none. He could barely stand. I handcuffed the man and read him his Miranda Rights.

    At this time L.S.P. Trooper Keith Phenix arrived and transported the man to the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center. At the O.P.C.C., the man submitted a breath sample on the Intoxilizer 5000. He was watching the screen and the first reading was above .178g%. He stopped blowing when he saw this. I covered the screen and he again provided a breath sample. This time it registered .154g% BAC which was good enough.  He was booked into the O.P.C.C. for DWI 1^st offense.  It looked to us like one of the first two OPTIONS would have worked out best for him!