According to a Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office incident report, On January 29th, 2023, at 4:56 AM, Catoosa County 911 Dispatch issued a BOLO for a 2006 Lincoln Mark LT Pickup truck. According to the report, “The caller/concerned citizen stated the vehicle was all over the roadway and then would speed up to a high rate of speed and then slow down to an extremely slow rate of speed. He stated the vehicle was very likely to crash or hurt someone. The witness then advised the vehicle had pulled over onto the right-hand shoulder of Interstate 75 NB at around mile marker 352.” Deputy Lowe, Corporal Lewis, and Lieutenant Cantrell then arrived on the scene and observed the driver (identified as Amaro Turrubiartes Ricardo, 25, of Dalton) asleep at the wheel, lying back in his seat. Deputies had to knock on the window for several minutes to wake Ricardo. Ricardo then attempted to put the vehicle in drive. However, he was unable to do so. According to the report, “Lt. Cantrell then opened the door and removed Ricardo from the truck and detained him. Lt. Cantrell observed Ricardo to be extremely unsteady on his feet and had a strong odor of alcohol emitting from his breath and person. He was then asked if he had consumed any alcoholic beverages on this date, and he advised he had. Lt. Cantrell then asked Ricardo on a scale of 1 – 10, with one being absolutely stone-cold sober and ten being the drunkest he has ever been in his life, how drunk he thought he was, and he replied that he was at about a 7. During field sobriety testing, Ricardo showed several signs of impairment and a BAC of .145 on a PBT. Ricardo was placed under for DUI and refused the state test by saying, “f**k you”. Ricardo was then transported to the Catoosa County Jail, charged with DUI and open container violation. According to online records, Ricardo has a very lengthy criminal history. In 2018, Ricardo was indicted on federal charges, including possessing meth with the intent to distribute, after he was found with over 4 kilos during a traffic stop for speeding on a Missouri State Highway. In 2020, Ricardo, along with 67 others, were indicted on federal charges in a metro Atlanta drug trafficking investigation dubbed “Operation Wu Block,” which was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, and several law enforcement agencies across Georgia.
Dalton man arrested for DUI after 911 call from concerned citizen on I-75 in Catoosa County
