BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) — Police officers see all kinds of unusual behavior during traffic stops, but one drunk-driving suspect is making headlines after attempting to prove his sobriety by doing a backflip.
A police officer in Broadview Heights, Ohio, pulled over 27-year-old Tanner Watson for speeding. Watson conceded that he had been out drinking with his friends and had three or four beers, but the officer suspected it was more.
“Your driving’s pretty bad, your eyes are super glossy … I can smell booze coming from you, so I want to run some sobriety tests on you,” an officer can be heard saying on video.
The officer noted that Watson appeared to have trouble with the first sobriety test, and when he directed him to walk a straight line, Watson volunteered to do his own version of a sobriety test: a standing backflip.
The video showed that Watson then became argumentative after the officer told him that his acrobatic move didn’t prove that he was sober.
“So I’m asking you what do you want me to do as a straight line,” Watson says in the video. “Do I have to raise my voice even higher?”
In the video, the officer appears to grow tired of arguing with Watson about his instructions for walking a straight line.
“Alright … turn around and place your hands behind your back, OK?” the officer says.
Watson was arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle impaired and cited for speeding, but Watson contested the officer’s conclusion that he was intoxicated.
After his arrest, Watson said he was disappointed that he couldn’t convince the officer he was sober.
The 27-year-old was in court Thursday, arraigned on the OVI charge. He was freed on bond.