A Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on DUI and child endangerment charges following a crash Thursday afternoon while he was off duty.
According to Gwinnett police, Anthony C. Pesaresi of Auburn was driving a 2013 Ford Edge down Braselton Highway in Dacula around 5:30 p.m. when a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder turned in front of him off Hog Mountain Church Road. The Ford then hit the Nissan in the rear.
The Gwinnett police officer responding to the crash said in his report that he found the Nissan driver at fault in the crash.
The officer reported that he could “smell a moderate odor of alcohol” coming from Pesaresi. He asked him if he had been drinking, to which Pesaresi responded that he had consumed one 12-ounce beer about 11 a.m. that day. He later changed his story, saying he had one 24-ounce beer and had not eaten since 8 a.m.
After Pesaresi showed some signs of impairment during several field sobriety tests, the officer arrested Pesaresi, police said. Two breath tests administered to him at the Gwinnett County Jail returned blood-alcohol level results of .11 – over the legal limit of .08.
Pesaresi faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and two counts of DUI-child endangerment for having two of his children in the car during the incident.
According to Channel 2 Action News, Pesaresi, a senior deputy in the jail division, has been with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office for nearly four years. The sheriff’s office will be conducting internal investigation per department policy.
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