Man Arrested After Driving Wrong Way On Highway 29; Stopping To Have Cigarette In Road

July 21, 2009

After stopping in the road to have a cigarette and driving the wrong way on Highway 29 Monday night, a Monroeville man was arrested.

A volunteer fireman reported a Chevrolet Cobalt headed south in the northbound lanes of Highway 29 near Bluff Springs Road about 11:00 Monday night. By the time he reached Thompson Road, the driver was reported to be headed back south in the southbound lanes at about 30 mph.

Then, the volunteer fireman reported that the driver stopped in Highway 29 and appeared to be having a cigarette. He then proceeded back south on Highway 29 before pulling over at a store near Highway 29 and Highway 164 in McDavid.

hargest.jpgThat’s where deputies caught up with Hargest Lee, Jr, of Monroeville. He was arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license; records revealed that his license had been suspended or revoked at least four times in the past.

Lee, 61, was booked into the Escambia County Jail on $500 bond.

Comments

12 Responses to “Man Arrested After Driving Wrong Way On Highway 29; Stopping To Have Cigarette In Road”

  1. Terri Sanders on July 25th, 2009 2:34 am

    for regular joe; my bad…. he was just standing in the road smoking for the heck of it ..like any normal person would do huh?? he was just driving down the wrong side of the road like any other normal person would do huh?? give me a break..if he wasn’t drinking …is he a mental case??? or on drugs…hey…if some one calls you a horse you can laugh it off…if a couple people call you a horse you might want to go buy a saddle….my bet ?? he was drunk as a skunk…and he even makes the skunk look bad!!!!

  2. noh8rs on July 23rd, 2009 6:03 pm

    joe2, sounds like you must be the “volunteer”. You sound pretty angry that the cops couldn’t arrest the man on “your” word. huh. And what do you mean they couldn’t get him for drinking because they couldn’t put him behind the wheel? If they couldn’t put him behind the wheel, they couldn’t charge him with driving on suspended license.

  3. jamie on July 23rd, 2009 7:12 am

    Regarding officers in Bluff Springs
    I beat they will not be there very long.

  4. David Huie Green on July 22nd, 2009 11:09 pm

    REGARDING:
    “Did the deputies actually see him in actual phyisical control of the vehilce (sitting the car with the keys in possession is enough for phyisical control)? ”

    I had a great-uncle who was arrested for drunk driving one time. The deputies found him drunk and sleeping in his car in the middle of Branford Road-not pulled off to the side.
    Grandpa said, “Leonard wasn’t driving; he was asleep at the time they arrested him.”
    “Yeah, but Grandpa, he was miles from the nearest house when they found him and nobody else was with him.”
    “Yep, but he wasn’t driving when they found him.”
    “But he got there somehow.”

    Back then being drunk was considered an excuse for bad driving. I am glad it isn’t anymore.
    “OH, yeah, I’m sure he had been driving drunk but not when they got to him.”

    I love my family.

  5. David Huie Green on July 22nd, 2009 11:00 pm

    REGARDING:
    “It’s time the sheriff office puts officers out to watch hwy 29 from Molino to Century.”

    So THAT’S why there were deputies all up and down the road in Bluff Springs this afternoon.

  6. jamie on July 22nd, 2009 10:22 pm

    I had a similar occurance last month a gold malabu was headed north in the south bound lane. I called 911 they put me to the Sheriff Office .They wanted to know if I got the tag number. There’s no way to get the tag number on a north bound car in the south bound lanes when the car nearly misses your entire family in the vehecile infront of you and drives by you smiling. It’s time the sheriff office puts officers out to watch hwy 29 from Molino to Century. Thankfully no one was hurt or killed. I guess we have to do our own police work just like the fireman did in this case.

  7. joe2 on July 22nd, 2009 4:22 pm

    noh8rs, he didnt accidentally pull into the wrong lane. when you pull out off another road and cross 3 lanes almost hitting another car and a guy on a bike and your still driving the same way, i dont think that can be an accident on top of that other vehicles was flashing their lights and 2 semi’s almost hit him. if you think it still is “get real”. he drove for 4 miles before crossing back over on the right side of the road . he was drinking but the cops couldnt put him behind the whell of the car. thats B.S. another thing they need to stop transfering new cops from pensacola to work in century and leave the ones that know the roads here. it took the cops 30 mins. to get to him and we was in mcdavid. do you know what happend they got lost

  8. Anna on July 22nd, 2009 2:43 pm

    Hey noh8rs,

    “He was arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license; records revealed that his license had been suspended or revoked at least four times in the past.”

    He had no business driving PERIOD, drunk, sober or stupid whatever the case my be he did not have a license because it is and has been suspended or revoked repeatedly.

  9. noh8rs on July 22nd, 2009 1:44 pm

    Did anyone think that this man may have accidentally pulled into the wrong lane, then realizing it got into the lane going in the right direction. (very lucky not to have gotten hit head on). But then you see some crazy ( I say this because anyone that would do this IS CRAZY) person following you, so maybe you stop in the road to see what is going on (and just happen to be smoking) then you go again and this nut is still following you ( and this is a pretty good distance from starting point to end) so you pull over at a store, and probably got wrapped up by cops.

    If that had been me you were following, I would have been on my cell calling 911 to let them know I had some weirdo following me.

  10. regular joe on July 22nd, 2009 11:46 am

    Terri Sanders: Where in the report did it say he was ‘drinking and driving’? Or did you come to that conclusion on your own?

  11. Molino Resident on July 21st, 2009 10:35 pm

    Did the deputies actually see him in actual phyisical control of the vehilce (sitting the car with the keys in possession is enough for phyisical control)? or did they take the word of the Vol. Fireman? For me the vol. fireman’s word is plenty but probable cause might be interested in a different standard. So I’m assuming that he must have still been in the vehicle when the deputies arrived if he wasn’t the case probably won’t go far which is sad but our laws protect the wrong instead of those trying to lead good lives and be good people.

  12. Terri Sanders on July 21st, 2009 9:59 pm

    yep.this is our good old judicial system at work.500.00 bond….back on the street before the ink on the deputiesreport is dry.only to return to the road,drinking driving and maybe next time killing some one. only in america where thanks to the aclu only the criminals have rights.