UPDATED 12:45 p.m.: Alpharetta City Councilman Michael Cross was arrested and charged with DUI and child endangerment on Saturday, Feb. 23, according to an arrest report from the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.
A police report stated Cross was driving downtown erratically, according to a phone call made by a witness to the Alpharetta 911 Center, reported WSB-TV's Mike Petchenik. A child in the car was not properly restrained in the back seat.
The witness reported at 9:52 p.m. to dispatchers that a dark colored Ford Explorer was driving erratically and all over the road, having trouble maintaining his lane and even ran off the roadway. The witness followed the SUV from GA 400 in Forsyth County to Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta.
When an officer caught up with the SUV and the witness at Haynes Bridge Road and GA 120, the officer report he saw a small child in the right rear passenger seat of the SUV who was turned around and looking at the officer.
"I saw the driver put the blinker on and abruptly change lanes. The maneuver was not smooth and the vehicle jerked upon changing lanes," the officer said in his incident report.
The officer turned on his blue lights at Old Milton Parkway and Wills Road, and the driver pulled into the American Legion Post lot on Wills Road. The officer said in the incident report that he saw the child was not in a proper safety seat, but in a booster seat and appeared to small for it.
"As I got closer to the driver's door, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle," the officer reported. He said he could smell the odor of alcoholic beverage from the SUV, and from the driver.
The driver, later identified as Cross, refused to do voluntary field sobriety evaluations and said he didn't think the officer had probable cause to pull him over. Cross also refused to blow into the Alco Sensor and refused to take the state test at the North Fulton County Jail Annex.
Michael D. Cross, 38, of Alpharetta, was cited for DUI less safe, DUI endangering life of a child, child safety seat violation and failure to maintain lane.
The child and SUV were turned over to Cross’s wife, the report said.
It will be astonishing if he gets away with this. Certainly not the standard Debbie Gibson was held to. Also if he is the model citizen that would never endanger his child, why was this young child not restrained by a seatbelt? Not very responsible. People can extend grace when mistakes are admitted, but often the coverup is worse than the crime. He is no longer fit to serve the citizens of this community.
It would have been much better to admit his lack of judgment and seek forgiveness rather than trying to bury it. The circumstances make him not only look guilty but to be lying about it. If he stays on Council, then Alpharetta gets a black eye. The lesson will be that position has privilege and it will dilute the trust of elected officials even more. I hate to say it but it will look like they are closing ranks to protect one of their own.
"The worst disgrace in Alpharetta Council history"? Please. Someone was given a citation for DUI. The law will provide the consequences. No need to over react to a simple story. No one was hurt in the incident. You people must be really bored. Time to pull up your big girl pants and move on. Nothing to see here.
Would you have wanted to be on the road, or your wife or children out on the road with Mr. Cross. The eyewitness who followed him reported he was weaving, unable to maintain a lane, almost got on 400 in the wrong direction. Sane people do not want to be on the road with people who are drunk. Nothing to see ? One person is killed every half-hour due to drunk driving • Each year approximately 16,000 are killed in alcohol related crashes • Alcohol is a factor in almost half of all traffic fatalities • Every other minute a person is seriously injured in an alcohol related crash
The American judicial process is not speedy, but it is the best in the world. Let a jury hear the facts, and then it can decide if punishment is necessary.
If his knowledge of the law is second to none, I'm sure he is aware then that a clean sobriety test is the best *evidence* for proving innocence. Likewise, I'm certain he knows that refusing a test leaves the door open. It doesn't prove anything. His insistence of innocence says that he thinks Alpharetta has a bad officer who abused his power in stopping him and then lied about what he saw. If that is the case then the officer should be disciplined. Can't have it both ways. It also says that he believes that a private citizen erroneously called 911.... for what reason? Does this man have a habit of randomly choosing victims, calling 911, then following them down the road? Or was that a wild hair idea that popped into his head for that one evening because he had nothing else better to do? His knowledge of the law has nothing to do with making a mistake. He would have been better off to have admitted it and moved on instead of implied accusations to the character of two others. It doesn't matter whether he did or didn't at this point. The abounding doubts render him unable to serve effectively. Truthseeker, thanks for those stats. DUI is a big deal.
http://wrbw.membercenter.worldnow.com/story/21345455/alpharetta-cou Michael Cross was arrested on Saturday after a witness called police to report a car weaving through traffic with a child in the back seat, according to a police report. "The Ford veered off the road a few times and then corrected back but over-corrected a few times," said the witness, Andrew Alexander. Alexander said that he watched Cross' vehicle have trouble staying in its lane for several miles. "He accelerated up to a red light and stopped really fast, as well as he almost turned the wrong way onto 400, jumped the median to get back in the right lane and turned on 400 south and that's when I called 911," Alexander said.
I just hope the police officer doesn't have to suffer consequences for doing the job he was hired to do.
"Oh - well, in that case, you're free to go!"
http://neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/21811858/article-Cross-denies-DUI--child-endangerment-allegations?instance=alpharetta He was issued citations for DUI Less Safe, DUI endangering life of a child, child safety seat violation (safety restraints for child) and failure to maintain lane.
I don't think anyone here is contesting Mr. Cross' legal rights to refuse testing or to navigate the legal process for these charges. It seems like many of us have lost respect for him due to the many questionable circumstances. This will render him ineffective to govern. Respect is earned, not declared by a decision in a courtroom.
From one of the sites comes this: "driving is a privilege, not a right. This is especially important when it comes to Georgia’s Implied Consent Law. Under this law, you as a Georgia licensed driver are consenting to submit to a chemical test if you are stopped for driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. If you refuse, you can face harsh consequences including losing the right to drive." AND: "the State views refusal as an admission of guilt and imposes penalties. There are also other ways that police can try to test your sobriety. For example, if they observed erratic driving behavior, smelled alcohol on your breath or noticed strange behavior they may suspect you of drinking and driving." Lastly: "This is a serious criminal offense and the State makes a point to punish anyone who has not cooperated with Implied Consent." Presumably Cross, as an attorney, would be familiar with Implied Consent, and recognized the consequences of his choice to refuse any sort of sobriety test, chemical or field. It's a direct challenge to the system from a legal perspective. I wonder how important the witness will be to this case.
I have no idea if Mr. Cross was drunk, dropped a phone, if the caller was a concerned citizen reporting the facts, or merely someone who filed an exaggerated/vengeful 911 call for road rage or whatever reason. I have a lot of respect for our local law enforcement, I think they do an amazing job on limited budgets; however, I believe we are all human and prone to bias. If I was an officer and had a report of someone driving erratic, I would look for any possible reason to pull them over. In reading the police report, he said that the "improper lane change" was because his lane change was jerky and not smooth, but no report of swerving out of lanes and Mr. Cross did use a turn signal. The report says that the child "appeared to young and too small for the booster seat," but the report also said the child was 7 years old. Do they even make booster seats too large for a 7-year old boy? And viewing the officer cam and recording, no staggering or slurred speech observed. Smell of alcohol and red eyes are judgement calls. I am not saying the cop is wrong or needs to be disciplined, we absolutely need to allow our law enforcement to make judgement calls and have some discretion; however, that discretion needs to be tempered by a judge and our legal system. After that full review and input from ALL sides, can the full truth be determined. Let's allow that to happen before jumping to conclusions.