By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great local journalism.
Teen DUI suspect showers before deputies catch up to him at south Forsyth home
energydrink

SOUTH FORSYTH — There’s no such thing as a clean getaway.

A Forsyth County teenager was arrested on Christmas Day for driving under the influence after reportedly drinking two alcoholic energy drinks and starting a police chase.

According to a Forsyth County Sheriff’s report, the pursuit began on Old Atlanta Road as the 18-year-old turned onto Daves Creek Road at a high rate of speed while on the wrong side of the road and lost traction due to the rainy conditions.

It ended after he made it home — and took a shower — before blowing a .149 and .139 blood alcohol content.

After making “several spontaneous utterances,” the student told deputies he drank two Four Lokos.

Four Loko is a once-popular caffeinated malt beverage that received widespread backlash for related underage binge drinking and deaths, causing the product’s company to remove the energy drink ingredients — caffeine, taurine and guarana — from the concoction.

According to Epifanio Rodriguez, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, underage people fleeing the law “is not an everyday occurrence, but we have to remember that kids are impulsive.”

Often, he said, they run out of fear. The teen was cooperative once deputies arrived at his house, Rodriguez said.

He was charged with DUI under 21, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the road, failure to stop at a stop sign, fleeing/attempting to elude and open container.

Deputies canceled the pursuit due to weather conditions and as the suspect continued to drive recklessly — he ran three stop signs and crossed “into the oncoming lane of traffic multiple times.”

When another deputy followed the vehicle without sirens on to a house, the teen’s parents directed the officer to his room, where he had just finished taking a shower, according to the report.