TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — A semi truck driver spotted swerving across eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in Utah's west desert was arrested over the weekend on a DUI charge.
Saturday afternoon, the Tooele County Sheriff's Department said it had received seven separate phone calls from drivers reporting that a truck "was all over the roadway and swerving so erratically no one was able to pass him," according to the arrest documents.
A sheriff's county deputy stationed ahead of traffic witnessed the truck with other vehicles stuck behind it. When the deputy went to pull the truck over, the driver failed to notice, forcing the deputy to pull alongside the semi.
When the truck eventually pulled to the side of the road, the deputy said it took the driver, Timothy Patrick Murphy, nearly 30 seconds to roll down his window. The deputy wrote that Murphy's "eyes were glossy, his speech was thick and slurred, he had droopy eyes, his reflexes were slow, and he was disoriented."
Murphy, 64, said he was headed towards Wendover, at which point the deputy explained that he had passed the city 30 miles earlier.
According to Murphy, he has multiple medical issues and takes multiple pills every day, but could not explain what they were. When walking towards the deputy's vehicle, "Murphy had to continually hold onto the semi-truck and trailer for balance, his poor balance remained evident for the duration of the contact."
Inside the semi truck, officials found a bottle of vodka.
The deputy wrote that Murphy "did poorly" on alphabet and counting tests before he was arrested on the DUI count, along with reckless driving and an open container in the truck.
