Hunter
03/28/24
Squealing tires at the top of a downtown Iowa City parking ramp has led to the arrest of a Muscatine man on OWI charges.
Police say they observed a large cloud of smoke coming from the top of the Dubuque Street parking ramp at around 2:15 Sunday morning, followed by several minutes of loud popping sounds. The reportedly learned that the vehicle squealing the tires was a BMW owned by 22-year-old Luis Diaz.
Police were standing next to the exit ramp when they allegedly observed Diaz coming down from the ramp at a high rate of speed and not wearing his seat belt. Upon contact, a strong odor of ingested alcohol was reportedly observed. Diaz also had multiple bar wristbands on.
He allegedly admitted to police that he was squealing his brand new tires at the top of the ramp. After failing field tests, Diaz provided a PBT of .226 percent and a later Datamaster reading of .201 percent.
He was taken into custody and charged with 1st offense OWI, a serious misdemeanor. Diaz was released on his own recognizance Monday pending future court dates.