“Tripping” Driver Arrested

Trooper Dawson Duff arrested a Monticello Man on eight charges on Monday, March 2, after he found a suspicious vehicle parked in the middle of Barwick Road.

Phillip Chadwick Townes, 59, was arrested and charged with one count of Improper Parking (Blocking a Roadway), Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of Alcohol, Possession of an Open Beverage Container in a Motor Vehicle, Failure to Produce an Insurance Card, No Registration Receipt, Failure to Maintain Insurance, Failure to Wear a Seat Belt, and possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

He was lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail in Hazard at 6:33 p.m. on Monday, where he remains pending arraignment before Judge Gary Salyers.

According to the police report, Trooper Duff was called to 616 Barwick Road after a Barwick woman reported that her husband, Charles Stidham, had asked her to call 911 and report a suspicious vehicle and person.  According to the caller, Phillip Townes approached her husband and told him that people were “tied up in the area.”

Trooper Duff located the black 2002 Chevrolet Silverado parked in the roadway.  Duff talked with the reporting witness, Charles Stidham, who said he believed that Townes was acting strangely and “tripping.” 

Townes attempted to leave the scene, exited his vehicle, and started to “walk up in the wooded area” before Trooper Duff apprehended him.

Arrest records indicate that he exhibited signs of impairment and failed numerous field sobriety tests.  He was arrested and charged with nine offenses. 

Duff located a fifth of vodka and an aerosol can that had been used as an inhalant in the console of the vehicle during a search.

Townes was transported to the Kentucky River Medical Center, where he submitted to a blood test before being taken to the Hazard jail.