Fifth DUI for man on lawnmower (TN)

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | August 9, 2010 | News Sentinel staff

[deoetdoctrinae]

OLIVER SPRINGS - A Clinton man was arrested for his fifth drunken-driving offense Sunday afternoon. His lawnmower was taken to the impound lot.

The arresting deputy knew that Lonnie Michael Haney, 46, had had his driver's license revoked when he recognized the serial offender driving a John Deere riding mower southbound along the shoulder of the northbound lane on Tri-County Boulevard, according to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office incident report.

Haney allegedly had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, red glossy eyes, slurred speech and appeared unsteady on his feet, the report states. He failed a subsequent sobriety test.

Once arrested and seat-belted into the back seat of the deputy's cruiser, Haney also was outfitted with a helmet, the report notes, after he began banging his head against the inside of the vehicle.

He now is charged with felony DUI, driving on a revoked license and violation of the implied consent law, ACSO Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.

[cva66snipe]

Anybody driving a riding mower down that stretch of road would have to be drunk. LOL Maybe he thought he was on the yellow brick road and was going to see the Wizard of OS {pronounced OZ a local nick name for Oliver Springs} LOL... h well he’s a guest at the Riverside Motel in Clinton now LOL.

[billhilly]

George Jones beat him to it.

Substance abuse

Jones’ alcohol consumption was legendary. For a great part of his life he woke up to a screwdriver and spent the rest of the day drinking bourbon. He was given the nickname “No-Show Jones” as a result of his missing many performances during his days of drug abuse. The song ‘No-Show Jones,’ makes fun of the foibles and weaknesses of Jones and other country singers.

Perhaps one of the best known stories of Jones’ drinking days occurred while he was married to Shirley Corley, his second wife. Jones resorted to some desperate measures in obtaining alcohol:

“
Once, when I had been drunk for several days, Shirley decided she would make it physically impossible for me to buy liquor. I lived about eight miles from Beaumont and the nearest liquor store. She knew I wouldn’t walk that far to get booze, so she hid the keys to every car we owned and left. But she forgot about the lawn mower. I can vaguely remember my anger at not being able to find keys to anything that moved and looking longingly out a window at a light that shone over our property. There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition.

I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did.

”

The riding mower doesn’t seem to be a one-time event. Wife Tammy Wynette told her riding mower story in her 1979 autobiography.

[cva66snipe]

I think it is ridiculous that you can be arrested for DUI on a mower

He was on the shoulder of a very busy four lane. I know the hiway in question. IOW he was on a state highway.

[IrishCatholic]

Swing and a miss strike one.

If it was his first DUI ever you have a point. After four or more, he just doesn’t care.

Really? Cops love drunks? They love the hassle? The few I know don’t. They don’t get giggly about the drunk that peed in his pants in their patrol car. But maybe you know some that do.

[Kakaze]

Yesterday I bush hogged almost 3 acres, and I had a beer but.......But when I did the county road for myself and 3 neighbors I left the can on my property, fearing this would be the time a Sheriff would drive by.

Not cutting the weeds was a bigger hazard than I was.

[Harold Shea]

Remember him getting pulled over on Franklin Rd after Tammy hid the car keys.Amazing he`s still alive

We had a a guy get a dui on a motorized wheel chair last yr here in town

[Pilsner]

How can you arrest someone for driving a lawn mower without a license when a driver’s license isn’t required to use a lawn mower?

In Texas, it is an offense to operate a motor vehicle, in a public place, while intoxicated. A motor vehicle is any self propelled vehicle. One can argue that operating a lawn mower, in a public place, while intoxicated, is not as dangerous as riding a horse, in a public place, while intoxicated,

but any legislature is forced to write broad laws, that sometimes seem to do too much, or too little. In any event, while a professional drunk is unlikely to runover and kill someone on his lawnmower, he is very likely to cause someone to wreck while taking evasive action to avoid him.

[Dem Guard]

I actually saw a drunk farmer run off the road and tear the front wheels off his tractor in ditch. This is when I found out it was legal at the time.

[bmwcyle]

You might be a redneck.

[billhilly]

“Here is one of the many links to that video.

http://www.afunnystuff.com/videos/Funny-videos/Lawn-mower-dui-arrest-video.html “

That link placed a trojan on my computer. The video opened but I could not close it. An hour later I’m back on.

[Erasmus]

I guess their system of justice there is nothing more than a revolving blade.

[goseminoles]

I just think that this cop knew he didn’t have a license means he’s dealt with him before. Some of the DUI cops get a woody over DUI arrest numbers that they eliude common sense. The guy needs detox and an AA meeting. Not a felony. Why can’t cops help someone who is sick?

[Dem Guard]

I didn’t have any problem. Sorry if it caused you one.

[IrishCatholic]

Why do you think the guy wants help in the first place? You can’t make someone stop being an alcoholic, druggie, or thief if that is what they want to be. They have to want to change. If his goal is to get drunk at every opportunity, how can the cop do anything but get him off the road?

If he was a drunk at home the cop never would have met him. The fact he is a drunk that wants to be on the roadway means he is a danger to others. If the cop knows him, then the cop knows him from being a drunk in public and a danger.

[goseminoles]

Yep. Let’s all house and feed this guy for the next 5 yrs at the tume of $150,000. And that doesn’t count the courts and attorneys time. For riding a lawnmower after some beers is guilt of a third degree felony, and now we have to pay. Seems kind of silly.

[Nailbiter]

Anyone who wants to tell me that the potential for damage.......

Depends on whether blades were engaged. Could end up with wavy cut lines /s

[cva66snipe]

I just think that this cop knew he didn’t have a license means he’s dealt with him before. Some of the DUI cops get a woody over DUI arrest numbers that they eliude common sense. The guy needs detox and an AA meeting. Not a felony. Why can’t cops help someone who is sick?

I live in the county in question most of my 53 years. Nope generally the deputies here don't go out of their way looking for people to arrest but they do watch for known chronic offenders. Most chronic offenders here also seem to want to make themselves known. Did the deputy recognize him? Yea likely so. If he hadn't the city PD also in the area would have. It's a rural county and Oliver Springs is a small town in it. Most of the town is actually in another county.

Had anyone been driving a riding mower say on a rural road nothing would have been said by any deputy unless it was a real busy road. I do it many times in a summer driving from one piece of family property to another to mow but my area is zoned agricultural.

This was inside a town on a busy four lane state hiway where people use the shoulder to enter and leave that hiway. IOW he had no business or reasonable cause to even have the mower there to start with which is what drew attention to himself. Four priors he knows what he can and can not do. He got caught.

Think about this though. If his trip was in driving distance or a riding mower it was also in walking distance right? The county LEO is the easiest to deal with here than the cops in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Oliver Springs, Norris, or Lake City. Norris a real small town is the most strict of all. I can name several towns in the county which would have added to his charges.

I'll explain the last part as well. The Cops can't make no one get help. Nor can the mans family for that matter. A few miles from this mans arrest a couple weeks ago in Oak Ridge a man with obviously some severe mental isues did a suicide by cop. That man had a history. Someone called in because he was acting very strange. The city LEO showed up and he pulled a knife. They ordered him to drop it. He didn't and charged them. They Tased him. He pulled the barb out and charged. They put the K-9 on him and he stabbed the dog. At that point he charged again and four officers fired. That man died. Why? because no one could make him get help. Not his family, not the cops, and he could not be locked up in a mental hospital against his will. Yet one woman started a petition trying to basically fault the cops in the incident.

Yea the guy no doubt needed help. In this area the cops are the ones who must deal with them. The parimedics can't due to dangers involved.

For what it's worth I think our county jail does have a ministry and several cops do try to help.

[editor-surveyor]

“Had anyone been driving a riding mower say on a rural road nothing would have been said by any deputy unless it was a real busy road.”

.
Technically, the mower has the right of way because it is a piece of agricultural equipment.
.

[goseminoles]

Doesn’t your state have the Marchman Act or the equivelent? There are civil commitments that are available to the police. All I can say is enjoy paying for the 9 or so months he is in your jail prior to sentencing and then his prison tab..
He was riding a mower. Has society come to this? Can’t be serious..

[IrishCatholic]

Well let’s charge the guy the cost. Then I’m OK for having him sit in prison for five years. Charge him extra for the court costs.
As for the lawn mower part, we have already established that all it took was for him, drunk and stupid, to swerve into traffic and have people crash to avoid him.

How much would the funerals cost? How much would the medical care cost? How much would lost wages amount to?

5 DUI’s means he doesn’t give a crap for anyone else’s life. Put him somewhere where he won’t menace others for five years. Then, maybe he doesn’t like that more than he likes drinking and putting everyone else in danger.

Excusing it is what sounds silly.