WPD Charges Driver Dozing at Wendy’s With DUI

WARWICK, RI – Warwick Police responded to 650 Bald Hill Road Aug. 11 at 4:15 p.m. to check on a driver dozing at Wendy’s in a 2016 Chevy Malibu in the restaurant’s drive through lane, arresting him on a DUI charge.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Officers Nicholas DeLuca and Jonathan DiPietro found the driver dozing at Wendy’s, the Malibu stopped in the drive-through lane blocking it, forcing customers to drive around him to access the drive-through window at the Wendy’s, according to the officer’s report. Inside the car, bearing Virginia plates, they found the driver, later identified as Larry France, 42, of 1303 Landon Ave., Chesapeake, VA, asleep in the car, which was running. Officer DiPietro turned the car off, and France woke.

At this time, DeLuca arrived, and the officers asked for France’s license, which the man took several moments to retrieve, according to DeLuca’s report. France said, “I was supposed to be going fishing, I guess I fell asleep while I was going fishing,” according to the report, repeating the sentence throughout their interaction.

The officers asked France to step out of the car, which he did, exhibiting an unsteady stance, bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol on his breath, according to the report. When asked if he had had anything to drink, France replied, “Literally I fell asleep, so yes I did have something to drink earlier,” according to the report.

France refused to take sobriety tests, and DeLuca arrested him on suspicion of DUI, alcohol, and transported to Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, where he also refused to take a breath test of his blood alcohol content. His car was towed from the restaurant lot by All Mobile Towing to their lot. A search of France’s Malibu turned up several open, empty Heineken beer bottles in two paper bags in the front and rear passenger’s seat floors, according to the report.

France was arraigned on the DUI charge Aug. 29 in Third District Court and scheduled for a Sept. 30 pretrial conference, and released on $1,000 personal recognizance.