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A drunk Coolidge man (and apparently his rifle, too) had a wild ride through a Pinal County trailer park Sunday night, and he had a whole lot to say to the sheriff’s deputies who arrested him, including telling cops the reason for his drunken joyride was because he “just went crazy.”
Pinal County sheriff’s deputies received a call about 10 p.m. Sunday concerning a man driving his Ford F-150 pickup truck erratically through the Whispering Winds Trailer Park in Coolidge.
The driver, witnesses told the cops, was crashing into cars, live power lines, an electric box, and a fence. Deputies located the driver, 41-year-old Ernie Beguin, hiding in a ditch about 300 yards from where the truck finally came to a stop — in a farmer’s field near the trailer park.
“I just went crazy, I think someone slipped something into my drink at the Goose,” Beguin told deputies.
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“The Goose” to which Beguin was referring is a bar called “The Galloping Goose,” where he’d been drinking prior to cruising through a trailer park before hiding in the ditch. He’d also been drinking at a bar called “Sonnies,” and the local Elk’s Club.
Deputies described Beguin as “extremely intoxicated.” When asked if there was anyone else in the car, Beguin told the deputies “no, just my rifle — I left that back in the canal.”
Deputies located the loaded rifle in the ditch where Beguin was hiding.
When asked to do some field sobriety tests, an honest Beguin responded with “I won’t do the tests, I won’t pass them.”
Beguin blew an (ahem) impressive .239 BAC into a preliminary breath
testing device. He was arrested for aggravated DUI (his license was
already suspended),
criminal damage, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
