West Magee Road
April 3, 10:25 a.m.
A man stopped for (very) erratic driving actually fell asleep while trying interact with the cop who’d pulled him over, according to an Oro Valley Police Department report.
An anonymous person called the OVPD regarding a man in a white car with a California license plate who’d been weaving in and out of lanes and had dozed off behind the wheel at a busy intersection.
A patrolling officer pulled up behind the car after watching it nearly hit the median and another vehicle. He immediately tried to pull it over, but this took a while: First the car failed to pull forward after a red light—as if the driver had dozed off (again)—and then the driver seemed confused about where to stop his car.
After driving on the shoulder for about 500 feet, the driver finally shut off his car, rolled down his window and started retrieving his driver’s license. He successfully extracted his wallet from his pocket but then just stopped moving as his head dropped forward. The officer “bent over to see his face better and observed his eyes shut. … (He) had fallen asleep.”
Commanded to wake up, the subject jerked up and apologized for “being nervous,” saying he’d fallen asleep because he “had insomnia” (presumably meaning he was now overtired because he’d had trouble sleeping the previous night). He said he hadn’t been drinking but was taking medication.
He performed abominably on field-sobriety tests. During the “one-leg-stand” test, he simply stood in place (on both feet) and counted out loud while staring at the foot he was supposed to be raising. The report notes: “He then just stopped attempting to perform the test.”
A breathalyzer showed no alcohol in his system, but he couldn’t remember what medications he’d taken recently. After being cited for impaired driving (and numerous traffic violations), he was released to an acquaintance who came to pick him up.
This article appears in May 16-22, 2019.
It sounds to me as if this man was on a sleeping medication. Those medications are very dangerous – people have woken up to find themselves cooking, driving and more all while they are sound asleep.
This guy probably should have been checked out by EMS. Maybe he was falling asleep because his blood sugar was too low. Or maybe he was septic and in shock. Not being there hampers one’s ability to evaluate, and maybe EMS was called, but if I was a prudent and reasonable cop, I would want this guy evaluated by medical before I released him to go with an acquaintance of unknown knowledge and understanding of medical things. I say this as a paramedic for 38 years.