Chronicle: A man wanted to do his field sobriety test with his cat

• A man wanted to do his field sobriety test with his cat.
• The Latino driver was wearing a wig and full makeup.
• Although he cooperated, Edwin Morales still ended up in prison.

An ambulance was assisting a driver who had a medical emergency on the street, when suddenly, another vehicle passed him in a hurry. This is a violation of a traffic law requiring vehicles to make way for emergency vehicles.

A Norcross, Georgia police patrol car saw the offender and decided to follow him to see why he was in such a hurry and ticket him, if he merited it. That driver turned out to be Edwin González Morales, a 23-year-old man of Latino descent.

Officer Padrón was tremendously surprised

Seeing that the police car was behind him with its siren and lights on, Edwin stopped. When Officer Padrón intercepted him, he saw several unusual things. First of all, that the driver was shirtless, covered in body paint, wearing tribal makeup and a red wig.

He also noticed that a cute little cat was sitting between his legs and he had an open bottle of liquor next to him. «Where are you coming from? Have you been drinking?» Asked the officer. «From a party with some friends and we did drink a little,» the driver replied serenely and very politely.

The driver had a clean record

Officer Padrón asked for his driver’s license and immediately went to check it against his database. Edwin had a clean record. At least at that moment, because that morning, everything changed radically for him. He suspected he might be intoxicated, so the officer had him do a sobriety test.

The driver was asked if he would be willing to undergo some tests to determine his sobriety and again, he politely said yes. Of course, he asked to have his cat with him. «It’s not possible,» Padrón replied. «Sorry, but you have to leave it in your car for this.»

The driver failed the sobriety test and was arrested

Although he was behaving in a very courteous manner, unfortunately Edwin was unable to pass any of the tests so he was handcuffed on the spot and charged with driving under the influence (DUI), carrying an open alcoholic beverage and inappropriately passing an emergency vehicle.

All these charges are minor traffic violations and after being held in the Gwinnett County prison, he was released after paying a bond of more than $2,000. Obviously that it is only the beginning of a long and tedious legal battle.

He could even lose his driver’s license

Edwin’s mistake of getting behind a wheel after drinking could lead to severe consequences, including more than $15,000 in fines and legal defense costs, or the state could suspend his license for up to one year, thereby taking away his driving privileges.

Apart from that, his previously unblemished record is now tainted with a DUI that will automatically cause his car insurance costs to increase drastically because from now on, companies will see him as a high-risk driver. Maybe he believed that this would never happen to him, something common with those caught driving drunk. And it could have been worse, because thank God it did not cause a fatal accident, as in other cases. When will we learn I wonder? Thanks for reading my story today on MundoNow. Until next time.