A blind man arrested for drink driving in the US is in even more trouble after he allegedly turned up to court drunk and fell over in the dock.
Mark Alan Watson, 41, of Bartlesville, Washington state, fell on his face in front of Judge Russell Vaclaw, reports the local Examiner-Enterprise.
Judge Vaclaw had just asked Watson to approach the bench when he reportedly stood up and paused before collapsing, striking his head on the jury box on the way down.
“Are you intoxicated?” Judge Vaclaw asked. “No, I’m blind,” Watson replied.
The judge asked a Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputy to administer a field sobriety test but Watson said he couldn’t take the test because he was blind. Instead he agreed to take a breathalyser test which he failed.
Watson was originally arrested after allegedly colliding with another car in Bartlesville and then driving off in the early hours of the morning.
He told police he had “felt a bump but was unsure if he had been involved in a collision”, according to court papers.
When asked to take a field sobriety test, Watson reportedly declined, saying: “I’m f***ing drunk. I’m blind anyways and I can’t drive.”
As police were placing him in the back of a squad car, he allegedly yelled profanities and kicked one officer in the knee.
He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, driving under suspension and assaulting a police officer.
