According to a Georgia State Patrol incident report, On August 6th, 2023, at 12:30 AM, Corporal Flowers was patrolling Broad Street near Riverside Pkwy when he observed two motorcycles accelerating at an extremely high rate of speed and quickly changing lanes without using their turn signals while passing two vehicles. Corporal Flowers reported, “[I] quickly pulled out onto Broad Street and noticed both motorcycles accelerated faster. As [I] got closer, both motorcycles made a quick left turn onto E Fifth Street. When [I] turned left onto E Fifth, they both ran the red light at the intersection of E Fifth St and E First Street. [I] activated my blue lights to conduct a traffic stop. [I] noticed the motorcycle on the left made a right turn onto E Second St and accelerated at a high rate of speed. The driver of the second motorcycle turned right but stopped, and then he made another move as if he wanted to turn right. [I] then knew he was thinking about fleeing but decided to stop.” The motorcyclist was identified as Joseph Michael Nicholson, 37, of Rome. Nicholson stated he didn’t know who the other guy was he was with. While talking to Nicholson, the trooper noticed a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath. His eyes were also bloodshot and watery. Nicholson stated he only had a beer before driving. Nicholson showed several signs of impairment and a BAC of .081 on a PBT. Nicholson was placed under arrest and agreed to the state test. The trooper asked Nicholson if he thought about fleeing. He stated well, I can say this. I would rather be talking to my friend I was with on the porch than being here right now. Nicholson was booked into the Floyd County Jail, and charged with DUI, reckless driving, failure to obey traffic light, and failure to signal lane change.
Rome motorcyclist arrested for DUI after driving extremely reckless on Broad Street
