Driving on three flat tires won’t get you very far, but it helped one man go all the way to the Carter County jail.
Michael Elliott II, 37, 116 Muddy Branch Road, Elizabethton, was arrested Saturday afternoon and charged with driving under the influence after police officers received calls of a possible drunk driver driving a black Honda with four flat tires.
In the arrest report, Carter County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Michael Freeman wrote he responded to the call at 4:14 p.m. He said he was unable to find the car, but was able to follow a “fluid trail left from the vehicle.”
The vehicle traveled south from Panhandle Road and stopped near Unaka High School in the first lane of northbound traffic, but facing in the opposite direction.
Freeman wrote that when he approached the car – which he noted had three flat tires – he found the driver, later identified as Elliott, passed out behind the wheel with the car still running and in gear, which Freeman turned off.
“While turning off the vehicle, I observed one empty Miller Lite beer can in the cup holder and five more unopened cans on the passenger floorboard,” he wrote in the report.
After several attempts to wake Elliott, who Freeman wrote “was only able to mumble a few words before passing out again,” Freeman opened the car door to attempt to wake him again.
Freeman wrote that since the driver was unable to identify himself, he located a prescription pill bottle in the passenger seat with Elliott’s name on it. He then asked the driver if that was him and he “mumbled” that it was.
The deputy wrote that he found two prescription pill bottles and receipts for the beer and prescriptions in the passenger seat. Freeman said Elliott had filled a prescription for Soma, a muscle relaxer, for 60 pills at 3:38 p.m. and that 57 pills remained in the bottle. He wrote that Elliott had purchased the beer from a convenience store at 3:49 p.m.
The deputy said Elliott became more coherent while being treated at the scene and told Freeman he went to a local restaurant at 2 p.m. where he drank a large beer and a shot of Jagermeister.
Freeman said that, due to his condition, Elliott could not complete any field sobriety tests, but did give consent to a blood test. He was transported to the Sycamore Shoals Emergency Room for treatment and then to the Carter County Jail when released from the hospital.