A Milledgeville man is in jail after he passed a police officer while driving on the wrong side of the road.
Antonio Maurice Barnes, 40, of Briar Cliff Road, Milledgeville, is facing charges that include DUI-alcohol less safe, speeding 74/55, and driving on the wrong side of the roadway, according to reports from the Eatonton Police Department.
Officer Nathan Crooks was monitoring traffic on the U.S. 441/Eatonton Bypass at the Church Street intersection around 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Crooks reportedly clocked a 2014 Toyota Camry going 74 mph in the 55 mph zone and traveling southbound in the northbound lane.
Crooks pulled the car over immediately past the traffic light at the intersection of State Route 16. As he walked toward the driver’s side window, Crooks reports that he smelled “a strong odor of cologne as if it was sprayed toward the window.”
Crooks asked Barnes why he was driving on the wrong side of the road, and Barnes said he hadn’t traveled that road in a while and became confused after passing through the road construction zone before entering the city.
When asked if he had been drinking, Barnes reportedly said, “A glass of wine before (he) left Atlanta three hours ago.”
Crooks asked Eatonton Police Officer Jeremy McClure to perform a field sobriety test. A preliminary breath test showed Barnes’ blood alcohol level to be .101, according to Crooks’ and McClure’s reports. He was taken to Putnam General Hospital for a blood alcohol concentration test, then to jail at the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.