By Marcus K. Garner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
JONESBORO, Ga. — Morrow police Chief Jeffery Baker appeared to be asleep at the wheel of his city police car before being charged with drunken driving, Clayton County police said Thursday.
Baker was arrested Wednesday night and charged with DUI and other related charges, including having eight open 12-ounce cans of beer inside the car.
Morrow Mayor Jim Millirons said Baker was placed on administrative leave, but declined to comment further.
Baker didn’t return repeated calls to his home phone Thursday.
He was less than a mile from the city’s police headquarters when he was seen stopped at a green traffic light at Jonesboro Road and Southlake Parkway, according to a Clayton County police incident report.
A Morrow police officer noticed Baker’s car didn’t drive through the light and other cars went around him, the report said. The officer knocked on Baker’s car window with no results, then tried unsuccessfully to open the door, police said. That’s when Baker’s car began to slowly roll forward, the report said.
The officer moved his patrol car nose-to-nose to Baker’s to keep it from moving and approached the chief’s window again, police said. This time, an awakened Baker gave the officer a thumbs up, according to the report.
Police said the chief’s speech was slurred, he smelled of alcohol, and when ordered to pull over to the side of the road, he told the officer, “I will get right on it, buddy.”
But he didn’t move his car. When told to put the car in park, police said, Baker backed up and drove around the Morrow officer’s squad car, veering over divider lanes in the road, and traveled to the police headquarters.
A responding Clayton County officer found Baker smoking a cigarette outside the building, police said. The chief refused to take field sobriety tests and was arrested.
Baker was taken to the Clayton jail, where he was released on $6,300 bond.
He was charged with DUI, traffic light violation, impeding traffic, driving with an open container, driving too fast for conditions, making an improper lane change and disobeying police directing traffic.
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution