Crime & Safety

Police: Man Shows up Drunk to Pick up Friend from Parking Lot of Police Department

Watkinsville Police charged the 44-year-old from Athens with DUI and driving while license suspended. An arrest isn't a conviction.

An Athens man who drove to the parking lot of the Watkinsville Police Department on Sept. 13 to pick up a friend was instead booked on a charge of driving under the influence.

Officers were occupied with a domestic argument inside a vehicle when one of the people involved in the dispute called a friend to come get him,  Police Chief Lee O'Dillon explained in a news release.


When the friend, 44-year-old Russell Paul Waldroup, arrived around 5:30 p.m., he was found to be intoxicated, according to O'Dillon.  A routine computer check revealed that his driver’s license was also suspended by the state.  After failing sobriety tests, Waldroup was booked and later released after posting bond.

Police also responded to the following incidents last week:

  • At 7:53 Monday morning, Sept. 9, a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country scraped the side of a 2003 Ford Taurus on Depot Street.  The Ford was parked along the roadside and the minivan was attempting to avoid a tractor-trailer rig.  No one was injured.
  • A 2005 International school bus was attempting to turn from Second Street onto Whitehall Road Thursday morning, Sept. 12, at 7:54 when it clipped the corner of a 2001 GMC Jimmy.  No one was injured. Seventeen students were on the bus at the time. Damage to the bus, and to the SUV, was very minor.
Information in this report comes Watkinsville Police in the form of a news release.

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