On what was reportedly an average night for a 55-year-old man, he loaded up his truck and headed to his local watering hole. While this may have been a normal event for him, it would be considered abnormal to most. What made his situation different was that his passengers were his pet zebra and macaw parrot — two animals that were considered a part of the family for him and his girlfriend.
The night turned away from average by anyone’s standards when he was arrested for drunk driving while sitting in his truck in the parking lot in front of the bar.
When police confronted the individual, he said that he had brought the pets to the specific bar on a number of occasions, which prompted that night’s behavior. He said that he had gone into the bar but was told that the animals could not be brought in that evening because the bar would be serving food. He then took the animals back out to the car.
In an unsurprising manner, people gathered around the vehicle to observe the event. It was someone in this crowd that the man believes called the local police. When they arrived to arrest him, he was sitting in the driver’s seat but claimed that another passenger was to be the person who would eventually drive the vehicle home. The bar disputed the man’s story about allowing animals into the establishment.
We won’t speculate as to the truth of this individual’s situation, but it highlights the fact that no case is alike. Each case has its own complicated set of events or circumstances. An officer may arrest an individual while parked, while moving in the lot or while on the highway. Anyone charged with a drunk driving offense should seek representation for their side of events.
Source: kcrg, “Man Arrested for OWI with Zebra, Parrot in Front Seat of Truck,” Katie Wiedemann, May 22, 2012