Trying to give a friend a ride home while allegedly drunk leads to West Branch man’s arrest

Lang
1/12/20

Giving a friend a ride home is usually a noble effort, but not when you’re drunk. That’s what a West Branch man learned in Iowa City early Sunday morning.

Iowa City Police were dispatched to a stalled vehicle on a curb near the corner of Governor and Ronalds Streets just before 2am Sunday. Arriving officers found 20-year-old Andrew Black of Delta Avenue getting back into the truck, trying to get it to restart. Black said he had made a right turn and didn’t know what happened after that.

Police say Black was stumbling and needed to hold onto the truck to stand up. Black allegedly said he just needed to get his friend home, and knew he was driving under the influence.

According to arrest records, Black had bloodshot, watery eyes, mumbling speech and had an overwhelming smell of ingested alcohol. He allegedly asked officers to take him to jail due to his intoxication, and refused any testing other than a portable Breathalyzer test at the scene. He later took a Datamaster test showing a blood alcohol content of .203.

Black is charged with Operating While Intoxicated.