Metro Atlanta sheriff issues ‘very serious' statement about DUIs

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — After two law-enforcement officers were hit in their vehicles by suspected DUI drivers last week, a metro Atlanta sheriff issued a statement on the matter.

“It's got to stop, so please heed this warning,” Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said in a Facebook post Friday. “I don't want to see you in jail, lose your license, or spend thousands of dollars in fines and fees, but that is exactly what we will happen if we find you DUI.”

A Forsyth County deputy was injured early last Saturday when a driver suspected of DUI hit the deputy's marked cruiser on Ga. 400, the sheriff's office said.

And Alpharetta police said a man is facing DUI charges after he allegedly hit a police car on Ga. 400 last Friday night. The officer in the car was heading home after a shift with the DUI task force.

Both the officer and the deputy are expected to recover from the incidents. But the Forsyth sheriff calls the situation “very serious.”

“Safety comes before anything else for us at FCSO,” Freeman said, “so we will be drastically increasing our DUI patrols through the holidays. Don't chance it as we will likely catch you and there are no such thing as a DUI warning.”

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In September, a woman was charged with DUI and other offenses when she hit and injured an Alpharetta police officer providing traffic control for a construction crew, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

That incident happened in the Mansell Road area of Ga. 400.

“This is becoming all too common,” Alpharetta police spokesman Jason Muenzer said. “It needs to stop.”

Cox Media Group