Three people were arrested, one for drunk driving, after police officers standing in front of the police station witnessed one of the partying youths throwing a beer can onto the lawn of police headquarters.
Arrested were the car’s driver, Ethan Womack, and his passengers, Justin McDowell and William Drake. Womack has since entered a guilty plea to drunk driving. McDowell was fined for public intoxication and Drake is awaiting hearing.
The arrests come for an incident which happened outside police headquarters around 4 a.m. while officers were standing outside the building.
“I saw the car pass the police department and we could hear the subjects in the car yelling out of the car,” said McMinnville Police Lt. John Morgan in his report. “I saw a beer can being thrown from the car toward the parking lot of the police department.”
Police pursued the vehicle, stopping them on nearby West Sparta Street. Lt. Morgan said McDowell tried to jump out of the car while it was still rolling.
“He stated he had four beers and two margaritas earlier to drink,” Morgan said of McDowell’s statement.
Police say Womack was somewhat uncooperative when he was being arrested resulting in resisting arrest charges. However, those charges were dropped in light of his DUI plea.
Womack will be required to serve 48 hours of an 11-month, 29-day sentence, pay $1,109, perform 24 hours public service work, and lose his driver license for one year for the DUI. McDowell was fined $261 for public intoxication.