A North Georgia police chief allegedly admitted to drinking a 6-pack of beer before being pulled over Friday night, leading to DUI and open container charges, authorities confirmed.
Dillard Chief Jeremy James Welch, 35, who lives in Clayton, was pulled over by a Georgia State Patrol trooper around 11 p.m. near Warwoman Road and Rickman Street in Clayton, according to a Georgia Department of Public Safety incident report.
The trooper said he noticed an open Bud Light can in the center console of Welch’s Nissan Titan, the report said. The trooper also smelled alcohol from inside the vehicle.
Welch told the trooper he had “consumed six 12-ounce cans of Bud Light” within the past two hours, the report said. When asked questions about a field sobriety test, Welch allegedly said he “knew where this was going.”
The trooper said Welch’s speech was slightly slurred, and he failed two segments of the field sobriety test, the report said. He refused to supply a blood sample, and he was taken to the Rabun County Detention Center.
He bonded out the next day for $1,200, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dillard Mayor William Gordon Robinson’s office told AJC.com that Welch has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. No further comment was provided.
Clayton and Dillard are located in Rabun County, about 110 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta near the North Carolina border.
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