Dayton Daily News
TROY, Ohio — A Miami County sheriff’s deputy is due in court Friday to answer to an OVI charge he picked up during a traffic stop in Pi-qua on Sept. 9.
Deputy Doug Byers, 43, is back at work after serving time off because of an administrative leave and a back injury.
According to an incident report filed by Piqua police, Byers was charged with OVI, speeding and improper lane change after he was shown to be unsteady on his feet when he was taken into custody around 1 a.m.
Byers was arrested after a witness reported seeing a Chevrolet Trailblazer being operated recklessly on County Road 25A and at a high speeds on Covington Ave. That same witness told police that while in the area of the North Main Street bridge, the Trailblazer hit the median on the bridge, went airborne and landed - almost causing a traffic crash.
Police said they followed the SUV out of the city limits at speeds that reached 85 mph. They said it drifted over the white line and finally slowed to a stop in the 5000 block of U.S. 36.
Byers complied when ordered to drop his keys out of the driver’s window. An officer said when he reached inside the window, he “could immediately smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle.”
At the station, police said, Byers didn’t allow his fingerprints to be taken and refused to submit to testing for a blood alcohol content reading. He was released to a friend when the jail refused to take him because he wouldn’t sign the citation for the OVI or the paperwork for an recognizance bond, police said.
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