Report: Impaired Rock Hill driver parked in space reserved for drug officers

A man charged with DUI was parked outside the Rock Hill Police Department in two spaces reserved for county drug agents, according to law enforcement records.

Officers responded around 2 p.m. Sunday to the parking lot for someone who wanted to make a report, and found a red Dodge van straddling two spaces marked for the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, according to a police report. They immediately smelled the odor of alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle, in which they saw a driver and two passengers.

One passenger told officers his brother, who was still in the driver’s seat, drove him to the police department to file a report. When asked how much alcohol he had consumed, the driver “quickly put a handful of sandwich meat in his mouth.”

Police say the driver still smelled of alcohol after they moved him away from the van. He told officers he drove his brother to the police department and that he had one beer.

The driver was charged with DUI after failing multiple field sobriety tests, police say. He submitted to a breath test, which indicated a blood-alcohol content of .23, nearly three times the legal limit.

After the test results, the driver asked, “Can I still refuse?” according to the report. Once inside the booking area, he asked officers, “Can I just plead guilty now?”

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Report: Impaired Rock Hill driver parked in space reserved for drug officers."