Lang
11/8/20
An armed drunk driving suspect is accused of fighting with Iowa City Police after he was taken into custody.
Investigators were called to a report of a driver passed out behind the wheel of his 2000 Cadillac Deville just after midnight Sunday at Mormon Trek Boulevard and Walden Road. Arriving officers say they found 37-year-old Russel Taylor of Westside Drive asleep behind the wheel with the car in drive and his foot on the brake. Witnesses said they had been able to wake him up, be he fell back asleep.
Taylor finally woke up after officers knocked on his window, but he took his foot off the brake and his car pulled forward and hit a squad car. Police say he took two minutes to unlock his door and exit the vehicle, and officers had to put the car in park after he left the car.
Taylor allegedly showed multiple signs of intoxication, and an empty plastic beer cup was found on the floorboard of his car. A loaded handgun was found on the driver’s seat adjacent to where Taylor had been sitting.
Once at the Iowa City Police Department, Taylor allegedly became uncooperative and tried to push into an officer’s face. He also allegedly refused commands to sit down and used his body weight to push a desk into an officer seated at a computer.
Police say Taylor also made incriminating statements, including, “If you charge me with intoxication, you can do that. OWI, you can do that,” “I’m f—ed up” and “I had a firearm, but it was not on my person, it was not on me, it was in my car.”
Taylor is charged with Operating While Intoxicated, Possession of a Dangerous Weapon While Intoxicated, and Interference With Official Acts. If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum of over two years in jail.