Drunk-driving suspect does backflip during sobriety test
Determined to prove to a skeptical police officer that he was stone-cold sober, a suspected drunken driver performed a backflip as part of his field sobriety test.
Tanner Watson’s acrobatic stunt was caught on body camera video that was released this week, more than a month after his arrest.
The 27-year-old was pulled over in his Ram 1500 truck for speeding on Broadview Road on the night of Nov. 23, Cleveland 19 reported.
Watson told police he had anywhere between two and four beers, but the officer who performed the traffic stop expressed doubt about his alleged level of intoxication.
“Your driving’s pretty bad, your eyes are super glossy, I can smell booze coming from you, so I want to run some sobriety tests on you,” the cop says in the recording.
The officer instructed Tanner to walk a straight line as part of a standard field sobriety test.
Instead, Watson volunteered to display his gymnastic prowess as a way of demonstrating that he was clear-headed enough to operate a vehicle.
Without further ado, he casually performed a textbook standing backflip and landed on his feet, drawing approving laughter from the cop.
“That’s good, man,” the officer says in the video. “I can’t do that, I’ll tell you that.”
But Watson’s tumbling skills were not enough to distract the officer from the matter at hand, and he insisted that the driver walk a straight line.
In the video, a seemingly agitated Watson argues loudly with the cop about what a straight line is, ultimately leading the fed-up law enforcement official to put him in handcuffs.
As he was being placed in the back of a patrol car, the amateur acrobat asked the officer if he had any proof that he was drunk.
“You can’t tell me what a straight line is,” the cop replied. “I think that’s pretty solid proof.”
Watson was jailed on a charge of operating a vehicle impaired and cited for speeding
He was arraigned last month and released on bond.
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