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Prentice Ellis was charged with operating under the influence, failure to bring a motor vehicle to a full stop, engaging in pursuit and reckless driving. He was held on $10,000 bond and will appear in court Jan. 23.
Police received a complaint of a pickup truck driving erratically in the area of Osborne Avenue at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Officers found the pickup truck driven by Ellis, and saw it swearing between lanes as it drove northbound on East Avenue, according to police reports. An officer activated his lights to pull over the truck near City Hall, but Ellis kept driving, continuing to swerve, police said.
At one point, he almost hit a curb before finally pulling over near the intersection of East Avenue and East Wall Street, police said.
Officers took Ellis out of the car and placed him in handcuffs, police said. As he sat on the ground, police said he laughed and blamed the incident on Heineken beer and a shot of rum.
An officer reported that he recognized Ellis from a previous case in July, when Ellis had been charged with driving his truck into a building and fleeing the scene, police said. Ellis said that he was trying to go home because he had to appear in court for that case the next day, police said.
Ellis failed his field sobriety test and was arrested, police said.
As officers opened the door of his truck, they found three beers, police said. Ellis told them that he has a daily tradition of going to Veterans Park and drinking two 16-ounce Heineken beers, taking a shot and smoking a joint, but said that he hadn't taken any drugs, police said. He also used racial epithets against an officer, according to police reports. He was taken into custody.
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