A Weirsdale man was arrested early Sunday morning after a bartender flagged down a Marion County sheriff’s deputy and warned him about an intoxicated customer who was getting ready to drive.
The deputy was parked in front of the County Line Bar, located at 17474 S Hwy. 25, when 45-year-old Arthur Harry Fike drove his white pickup truck across the grass to leave the bar. Fike then almost hit a tree, swerved and continued to drive on the wrong side of the road, a sheriff’s office report says.
When the deputy stopped Fike in the 16800 block of SE 134th Avenue Rd., he said didn’t have his driver’s license with him. The deputy noted a strong odor of alcohol coming from Fike’s mouth. And while Fike said that he hadn’t been drinking, the deputy noted that his eyes were bloodshot and watery.
Fike, who has been in the Marion County Jail seven times since August 1995, agreed to participate in field sobriety tests but told the deputy that he had had surgery on his right knee. He also said that his job “requires hard labor,” the report says.
Fike failed all three tests, including reciting the alphabet, and was taken into custody. A sheriff’s sergeant spoke with the bartender, who said she served Fike “three beers and one shot of liquor.” She said he fell to the ground and stumbled into a wall and she “begged” him not to drive, the report says.
On the way to the Marion County Jail, Fike “became insulting” and yelled profanities at the deputy. And he kept repeating “My wife was right. I shouldn’t have went to the bar,” the report says.
Once at the jail, Fike refused to provide a breath sample and told the deputy he “wasn’t counting” how many beers he had at his residence, located at 13484 SE 162nd Pl., or at the County Line Bar. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and released on $1,000 bond late Sunday night.