Driver Pulling Trailer During Snowstorm Faces Drunken Driving Charge

A 43-year-old Southfield man who stopped his pick-up truck and trailer on Middlebelt Road in Farmington Hills during a Sunday snowstorm faces a drunken driving charge. 

According to Farmington Hills Police, an officer on patrol during the storm responded at around 7:40 p.m. to a citizen report about a possible drunken driver. He found the truck and trailer parked in a traffic lane just south of 11 Mile Road. 

The driver who initially called police approached the officer and handed him the pick-up driver's keys, which he took after stopping his own vehicle in front of the truck, according to police. 

While speaking with the driver, the officer noticed a strong odor of intoxicants; a preliminary breath test showed the man's blood alcohol level was .268, which is more than three times the .08 legal limit.

Police found an open bottle of vodka in the vehicle, and a check of the man's background turned up a 2008 drunken driving conviction in Farmington Hills.