Conyers man gets DUI on motorized wheelchair at grocery store

Channel 2's Berndt Petersen reports.

Georgia law says its illegal to operate “any moving vehicle” while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

As a Conyers man learned last week, that includes motorized wheelchairs.

Danny Wayne Mitchell, 48, was cited Friday for DUI and "public drunk" following an incident outside a Kroger store on Ga. 138. According to an incident report, Conyers police were called to the scene after an SUV hit his Rascal 300 scooter.

Responding officers found a disheveled Mitchell “backing into the building and over plants” in his wheelchair.

Mitchell told an officer he had taken the anti-anxiety medication Valium, the anti-depressant trazadone and “consumed a pint of alcohol.”

Mitchell submitted to a breath test, the results of which were redacted from the incident report. He was cited and taken to the hospital.

“Mitchell’s electric wheelchair was secured at Conyers Police Department for safe keeping,” the incident report said.

On Tuesday, Mitchell told Channel 2 Action News he can barely walk and was at the grocery store Friday to get a prescription filled.

“I was out of medication,” he said. “So I had me a drink.”