Commerce Police Department arrests

•Jack Eugene Garrett, 33, 774 Wilson Cemetery Road, Nicholson, driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with an expired tag. Garrett was the driver of a truck that struck another truck just before midnight Saturday at the corner of Wilhard Street and Cherry Street. When police arrived, Garrett was not on the scene and a young woman claimed she’d been driving. However, the driver of the other vehicle went to the nearby Wing Slingers restaurant to use the restroom and when she returned she told the officer that the man who had been driving the truck that hit her was at the restaurant and “accosted her.” The woman who had claimed to be driving the truck, under questioning from the officer, admitted that Garrett was the driver. The officer went to the restaurant, where a witness said a woman had picked him up and taken him home. Two officers then went to Garrett’s house, where his wife allegedly told them that he’d just left for Toccoa with his brother. She left a message on Garrett’s phone advising him the police were seeking him in connection with the incident. At about 2:35 Sunday morning, the report said, Garrett turned himself in at the police station and admitted that he’d been driving under the influence after spending almost seven hours drinking at Wing Slingers. Asked how much he’d had to drink, he said “I don’t know. I lost count. It was a lot,” the report said. There was no indication that the woman who lied to police about driving his vehicle was charged.

•Jessica Lee Farley, 30, 192 Barber Road, Commerce, disorderly conduct following an incident at a doctor’s office in which she allegedly cursed in the waiting room where the woman’s daughter was being treated for a “severe” cut to a knee. According to the report, the child’s grandmother took the child to the doctor when Farley would not. Officers arriving found Farley outside arguing with her husband. She came into the waiting room cursing, the report said, and an officer advised her to go back outside. When she ignored him, the officer picked her up, carried her outside and arrested her.

•Summer Sauls Payne, 35, 706 Michael Drive, Winder, DUI-drugs and failure to maintain a lane. She was stopped by an officer working I-85 after a motorist pulled off the interstate and told him of an approaching vehicle that had almost caused a wreck. The officer spotted the vehicle as it exited at Banks Crossing and pulled it over on U.S. 441. Farley allegedly flunked a field sobriety test but admitted to taking Lithium and Xanax. A search of the vehicle turned up bottles for hydrocodone, Xanax, lithium, soma and other prescription medications, plus two bags containing residue of marijuana. The charges are pending the outcome of blood and urine tests.

•Weyman Howell, 53, 212 Harmony Street, Commerce, picked up on a probation violation warrant from Madison County after he was found sitting on the front porch of an abandoned house drinking beer.

•William K. Lee, 60, 10641 Hwy. 334, Nicholson, speeding, obstruction of officers and fleeing and attempting to elude. The charges came after an officer attempted to stop Lee for doing 68 in a 55 mph zone on the bypass. According to the report, Lee turned off on Mount Olive Road and continued to proceed west at 45 mph. The officer turned on his siren, assuming Lee had not seen the lights, but Lee continued until he turned into the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. According to the report, Lee was argumentative and angry and when the officer had heard enough, he slapped on the handcuffs and arrested him.

•Amber Christina Coggins, 20, 1125 Whitehead Road, Sugar Hill, speeding (91/70) and driving with a suspended license.

•Lonnie Bonds Jr., 46, 344 Duncan Circle, Commerce, picked up on a felony child support warrant by an officer who saw him in his yard and was aware of the warrant.

•Logan Alexander Roach, 21, 286 Shankle Road, Commerce, criminal trespass after he got into an argument with his grandmother, broke a mirror and caused other damage in the house.

•Ricardo Perez-Reyes, 26, 935 Homer Road, Commerce, driving without a license. Perez-Reyes, an employee of a local Mexican restaurant, had a Mexican ID and driver’s license but no Georgia license.

•Brandi Kay Boggus, 30, 211 McClure Road, Gillsville, entering an auto, She was charged after a witness identified her as the person who had taken a pair of sunglasses and other items from a vehicle parked behind BJC Medical Center. Boggus denied the allegations. None of the missing items were recovered.

•Shirley Dean Dean, 50, 1255 South Elm Street, Commerce, forgery after she allegedly tried to cash a counterfeit check at a Maysville Road business. According to the arrest report, Dean said she got the check in the mail and did not know it was bad. She left the store abruptly when the clerk called the police because she “needed to go home and pick her son’s kids up that were getting off the bus,” the report said.