Hunter
10/11/19
Going straight at a T-intersection has led to the arrest of an Iowa City man on multiple charges.
A patrol officer observed 31-year-old Samuel Pitts of Sterling Court come upon the intersection at North Madison and Market Streets just before 1am Friday. He drove straight over a curb onto the sidewalk and immediately exited the vehicle, pacing around.
Upon contact, Pitts allegedly had bloodshot watery eyes, thick slurred speech, and smelled strongly of ingested alcohol. He reportedly admitted to drinking but refused to participate in field or chemical testing.
Pitts was transported to the Iowa City Police Department, but refused to exit the vehicle. He had to be forcibly pulled from the vehicle into the intox room. He again refused testing.
A search of his driving record showed him to be indefinitely suspended from driving due to non payment of fines going back to 2010. He had a previous OWI and numerous drug convictions in Iowa and other states.
Once at the Johnson County Jail, a small bag was located in a coin purse in Pitts’ possession. Inside was a substance believed to by hallucinogenic mushrooms. Pitts said the mushrooms weren’t his, and claimed that the pants he was wearing didn’t belong to him either. He stated that he put on the uniform pants at work earlier in the day.
Pitts was charged with OWI second offense, driving while suspended, interference with official acts, failure to maintain control, failure to obey a traffic signal, public intoxication and drug possession, third or subsequent. If convicted on all counts, Pitts could be sentenced to a prison term of over seven years.