According to a Dalton Police Department incident report, On January 2nd, 2023, at 4:33 PM, Officer Cruz responded to the area of East Morris Street and Goodwill Drive in regards to a three-vehicle crash with injuries. Officer Cruz made contact with the one driver, later identified as Santos Felipe De Leon Mendez, 39, of Dalton. Officer Cruz reported, “While asking Santos for his driver’s license, [I] noticed Santos was having a hard time keeping his balance. [I] also noticed his speech was slurred, and [I] detected an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his breath. Other officers on the scene advised me that there were approximately five Modelo beer cans empty on the passenger floorboard of Santo’s Toyota Tacoma. [I] then asked Santos how much alcohol he had to drink, and he responded only had four beers before driving.” During field sobriety testing, tests were stopped due to Santo being so intoxicated. Santos then showed a BAC of .293 on a PBT. Santos showed several signs of impairment and refused the state test. Santos was transported to the Whitfield County Jail, where he was charged with DUI less safe, open container, improper left turn, driving with improper tag or decal, and driving while unlicensed.
Unlicensed driver arrested for DUI after causing three-vehicle crash in Dalton
