By Joe Johnson
A Bulloch County man was arrested for DUI early Sunday after his car collided with a Georgia State Patrol cruiser in Athens, according to police reports.
The collision occurred at about 2:07 a.m., when a car driven by 21-year-old Anthony Lamar Dunn of Statesboro made an “extremely wide “right turn from South Milledge Avenue to travel east on Baxter Street, nearly striking vehicles cars that were stopped at the intersection in the westbound lanes of Baxter Street, according to a GSP accident report.
The trooper, whose vehicle was also stopped on Baxter, observed the improper turn and activated his cruiser’s emergency lights and passed other stopped vehicles to initiate a traffic stop, according to the report.
After the trooper entered an eastbound lane of Baxter, Dunn corrected his direction of travel and his car struck the front of the trooper’s car, the report noted.
An Athens-Clarke County police officer responded to the scene to record the trooper conduct roadside sobriety tests, which Dunn failed, according to a county police report. He was subsequently arrested for DUI, and cited for several motor vehicle law violation, including operating an unregistered vehicle, possession of an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, and failure to signal a turn.
Two handguns and other of Dunn’s property that were in the car were given to one of his passengers, a 21-year-old Parkview Homes Extension resident, who was given a courtesy ride home by the local officer.
The other passenger walked to his home on Rocksprings Court, the police report noted.
Dunn was released that afternoon on own-recognizance bonds.