Float Driver in Parade Charged With DUI
AP
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Dec. 6) - A man driving a float in the Anderson Christmas parade has been charged with drunk driving after he passed another float then sped down Main Street, police say.
When officers caught up to 42-year-old David Allen Rodgers, he had an open container of alcohol in the truck he used to haul the children and adults on the float for the Steppin' Out Dance Studio, Anderson Police spokeswoman Linda Dudley said.
Witnesses said Rodgers was driving in line in Sunday's parade when he pulled out to pass a tractor in the float.
Rodgers sped down Main Street and ran a red light, while a witness on the float called 911 on a cell phone, police said.
Officers started chasing Rodgers, who didn't stop for three miles. Once he pulled over, he tried to attack an officer, Dudley said.
Rodgers, whose child was on the float, faces more than three dozen charges, including DUI, 18 counts of kidnapping and assaulting an officer, authorities said.
A woman who answered the phone at Rodgers' home would not talk to a reporter and a message left at the dance studio was not returned Monday.
Rodgers will have a bond hearing on the kidnapping charge Tuesday. He has a prior traffic offense, but Anderson Police officials could not elaborate on the charge.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
AP
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Dec. 6) - A man driving a float in the Anderson Christmas parade has been charged with drunk driving after he passed another float then sped down Main Street, police say.
When officers caught up to 42-year-old David Allen Rodgers, he had an open container of alcohol in the truck he used to haul the children and adults on the float for the Steppin' Out Dance Studio, Anderson Police spokeswoman Linda Dudley said.
Witnesses said Rodgers was driving in line in Sunday's parade when he pulled out to pass a tractor in the float.
Rodgers sped down Main Street and ran a red light, while a witness on the float called 911 on a cell phone, police said.
Officers started chasing Rodgers, who didn't stop for three miles. Once he pulled over, he tried to attack an officer, Dudley said.
Rodgers, whose child was on the float, faces more than three dozen charges, including DUI, 18 counts of kidnapping and assaulting an officer, authorities said.
A woman who answered the phone at Rodgers' home would not talk to a reporter and a message left at the dance studio was not returned Monday.
Rodgers will have a bond hearing on the kidnapping charge Tuesday. He has a prior traffic offense, but Anderson Police officials could not elaborate on the charge.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
