(Stillwater, Okla.) — Former Oklahoma State University football player Justin Carl Blackmon pleaded innocent this afternoon to a misdemeanor charge accusing him of aggravated drunk driving at about 3 a.m. Saturday in Stillwater.
Blackmon, 22, of Stillwater, was given a breath test following his arrest and had an alcohol level of .24 — three times the legal limit, Stillwater Police Officer Charles Murphy alleged in an affidavit filed today.
Blackmon remains free on $1,000 cash bond pending his return to court July 24 on the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of a one-year jail term and $1,000 fine on conviction.
The Stillwater police officer wrote in an affidavit that at about 3 a.m. Saturday, he was stationary at 6th and Kelly while monitoring traffic on 6th Avenue when he saw a 2008 Chevolet Tahoe traveling east on 6th Ave. at about 58 mph.
“I pulled out and attempted to catch up to the vehicle,” which then turned north onto Perkins Road from 6th Avenue, the officer wrote in his affidavit.
The vehicle, which had made an improper turn by turning into the outside lane, then pulled into the inside lane and accelerated north on Perkins Road, the affidavit alleged.
“I caught up to the vehicle in the 200 block of S. Perkins and initiated a moving pace of the vehicle and found the vehicle to be traveling at 60 mph in a 35 mph zone,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
The officer alleged that he observed the vehicle go left of center twice into the southbound lane of traffic while it was traveling northbound, according to his affidavit.
When the officer activated his lights and siren to signal the driver to pull over to the right and stop, “The vehicle continued northbound and then pulled over to the right at McElroy and Perkins,” the affidavit alleged.
“The vehicle then started moving again and pulled across all lanes of traffic to a turn lane on the left to turn west onto McElroy.
“The vehicle then turned left onto McElroy and traveled west a few hundred feet and then pulled into a gas station at Perkins and McElroy and finally came to a stop in a marked parking space,” the affidavit alleged.
Blackmon, the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, smelled of alcohol, had slow slurred speech and moved in a very lethargic manner, the affidavit alleged.
“Justin had red watery eyes and made admissions that he had consumed alcoholic beverages prior to my stop,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
When Blackmon stepped out of his vehicle to take standardized field sobriety tests, “I observed that he was very unsteady on his feet, as he would sway back and forth for balance,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“Justin was argumentative and stated, ‘I just flew in, I don’t know why you’re harassing me,"” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“Justin had trouble following even the simplest instructions like keeping his hands out of his pockets when asked to do so on four different occasions,” the affidavit alleged.
The officer said that he gave Blackmon the standard field sobriety tests on the sidewalk under the awning at the gas station, according to his affidavit.
Based on Blackmon’s alleged driving behavior –speeding, improper turn, left of center into oncoming traffic and failing to yield — along with his physical appearance and performance on the standard field sobriety tests, the officer arrested him for DUI at 3:14 a.m., according the affidavit.
Blackmon agreed to take a breath test to determine his blood alcohol level, the affidavit said.
The first sample at 3:54 a.m. was .24, and the second sample at 3:58 a.m. was .26, the affidavit alleged.
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