Area man arrested Saturday for alleged drunken driving

When police received a report late Saturday night of a possible intoxicated driver behind the wheel of a silver station wagon with Missouri tags, a patrol officer located the car at William and Sprigg streets and followed him, looking for signs of intoxication.

As the car approached Maple Street, the driver, James A. Garrett, allegedly rolled through a stop sign, scaring a female pedestrian who yelled something at him, according to a probable-cause statement written and signed by Officer Darin Hickey of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Hickey pulled Garrett over and informed him that he'd run a stop sign, the statement said.

Then, the officer noticed an open 24-ounce can of Busch beer sitting between the two front seats, and caught a strong whiff of alcohol coming from Garrett, according to the statement.

Garrett was asked to step from the vehicle and undergo a series of field sobriety tests. He failed 16 of 19 key indicators on the sobriety tests, according to the statement, and was placed in custody.

He then became "extremely belligerent and uncooperative," according to the statement, cursing and attempting to pull away.

Additional officers arrived and helped transport Garrett to the municipal jail, where he told police he "knew people and was going to have someone come and kill them."

He directed several other threats of violence at the officers as they were booking him.

At the jail, a breathalyzer test was performed on Garrett and his blood alcohol level registered a 0.184, more than the 0.08 legal limit.

Garrett was charged with driving while intoxicated, excessive blood alcohol level, failure to stop at a stop sign, driving while drinking an alcoholic beverage, operating a car knowing the owner had not maintained financial responsibility and displaying plates of another person.

Garrett is a repeat offender for the excessive blood alcohol and driving while intoxicated offenses.

Bond was set at $10,000.