An Atlantic man was arrested for drunk driving Saturday evening but not before wrestling with law enforcement along the interstate near Earlham.
Shea Michael Young, 32, of 300 E. Fifth St., Atlantic, was charged with first-offense OWI, assault on persons in certain occupations, interference with official acts-bodily injury and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The incident began about 5 p.m. Saturday at the Earlham exit of westbound U.S. Interstate 80, where a Dallas County Deputy Sheriff stopped to check on a vehicle with its hazard lights on and found Young asleep at the wheel of his 2003 Volkswagen Bug.
The deputy made contact with Young and found that his “eyes were bloodshot” and his “speech was slurred” and “disoriented,” according to court records.
Young allegedly failed the Standard Field Sobriety tests, and a preliminary breath test “indicated that he was under the .08% limit,” according to court records.
A search of Young’s person disclosed “a syringe/needle with residue (later field tested positive for methamphetamine)” in his pocket, and Young “later admitted that he had taken a Xanax and also smoked marijuana two days prior,” according to court records.
When the deputy “attempted to detain” Young “for further investigation,” Young allegedly “pulled away from” the deputy “and would not comply with verbal commands.”
The deputy spent some effort in allegedly “wrestling” with Young before Young “was detained in handcuffs,” but he allegedly “continued to resist while trying to place him inside of the patrol car.”
Young also allegedly “kicked” the deputy “in the torso area” and also pushed an officer of the Earlham Police Department “into the roadway ditch during the altercation,” according to court records. During the tussle, the deputy’s “left knee was scraped, which caused it to bleed.”
Young is held in the Dallas County Jail on a $3,000 cash or surety bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 6 in Dallas County District Court.
Young was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia in 2007 in Cass County District Court. He was convicted of second-offense possession of a controlled substance-marijuana in 2011 in Audubon County District Court. He was convicted of second-offense possession of a controlled substance-marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia in 2012 in Cass County District Court.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is innocent until and unless proven guilty.
