WARWICK, RI — A Brighton, MA, man unsteady on his feet, refused to be dissuaded from driving his blue BMW away from Seasons Market on Greenwich Avenue Dec. 25 at 1:12 a.m., but was intercepted by a Warwick Police officer shortly after and arrested on a DUI charge.
Officer Derek Hagopian was called to the area after another customer in the store reported the driver, possible intoxicated, had insisted on driving from the store despite his efforts to prevent the man from getting behind the wheel, according to the officer’s report.
According to the customer’s report, the BMW driver pulled into the store and got out of his car, stumbling and nearly falling over, then struggled to remain standing while in the store.
Hagopian found the blue BMW coupe at the intersection of Main Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, traveling west, and signaled the driver to pull over, stopping him just short of the Rte. 95 North on-ramp.
Hagopian identified the driver as Than Nguyen, 36, of 88 Oakland St., Brighton, MA, and immediately sensed a strong odor of alcohol coming from inside the car, according to the report. The officer also reported Nguyen’s speech was “heavily slurred.”
Haopian asked Nguyen to step from the car to perform sobriety tests. As Nguyen got out, the officer observed Nguyen using the car to lean on for balance.
During the tests, Hagopian reported Nguyen exhibited a lack of smooth pursuit and involuntary eye movement in his vision, used his arms for balance and stepped off-line during a walk and turn test, then used his arms for balance again and put his foot down half-way through the one-leg-stand test.
Hagopian arrested Nguyen on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, and transported him to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where he refused to submit to a breath test of his blood alcohol content. Hagopian charged him with DUI, first offense, blood alcohol unknown, and transported him to Kent Hospital for detoxification treatment.
Nguyen is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on the charge in Third District Court Jan. 24.
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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