Police: Driver of riding mower was drunk

BY SHERI McWHIRTER
smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

July 22, 2008 12:00 am

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BAY SHORE -- Authorities clipped a local man who allegedly was in the bag when he toppled from a riding lawnmower on a public road.

Passersby saw Jerold Gregory Earhart, 29, slumped over the wheel of a riding lawnmower spinning in circles late Saturday at the Townline Road and Charlevoix Street intersection in Charlevoix County's Hayes Township.

Earhart appeared to regain control, but passed out again and fell from the lawnmower, witnesses told police. The lawnmower continued to rumble on until it struck a tree and a yard ornament, where a witness shut it off.

Officers found Earhart passed out alongside Townline Road. He said he could not recall driving the lawnmower.

A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .44, more than five times the legal limit, Sheriff George Lasater said.

Earhart's arrest marked the third time he's been accused of alcohol-related driving offenses.

He also was cited for driving on a suspended license.

Earhart would have avoided arrest had he kept to his yard, but "not if you're on the public highway," Lasater said.

"It's an area of being responsible in every aspect of your life, even if you're on a lawnmower," Lasater said.

Earhart was hospitalized, then taken to Charlevoix County Jail, where he remains held on a $5,000 bond. He is set to be arraigned on July 29 before Judge Richard May in 90th District Court in Charlevoix, court officials said.

Earhart's driving record includes a driving while impaired by liquor conviction in January 1999 in Standish, a drunken driving conviction in September 2004 in Petoskey, plus various other speeding and driving on a suspended license infractions, said Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office.