By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A man stopped for driving slowly on Spur 239 in south Del Rio was subsequently arrested on a felony drunk driving charge, police said.
Mack Amor Altizer, 64, 999 Qualia Drive, was arrested at 11:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to a report released recently by the Del Rio Police Department.
Altizer was charged with the offense of driving while intoxicated, third or more, a third-degree felony, the report on his arrest shows.
In an affidavit filed in the case, DRPD Officer Karina Palacios wrote she was patrolling in the 2200 block of Spur 239 when she saw a white pickup “traveling at a very slow rate of speed, approximately 20 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone with the right turn signal light on and flashing headlights.”
Palacios reported she engaged her patrol unit’s red and blue overhead lights and initiated a traffic stop. She noted the driver of the truck, later identified as Altizer, “traveled a significant distance before coming to a stop.”
“Upon stopping, Altizer failed to pull over to the side of the road and instead stopped in the middle of the main traveled part of the roadway. I then approached the vehicle on the right side for officer safety. Altizer did not notice my presence, and I had to knock on the window. Altizer was then unable to roll down the automatic window, struggling for several minutes rolling down the rear windows instead,” Palacios wrote.
She noted she had to make her approach on the truck’s driver’s side to make contact with the driver. Palacios said Altizer once again did not notice her presence, adding she had to raise her voice to gain his attention.
“Upon speaking with Altizer, I noticed him to have bloodshot eyes, a confused demeanor and extremely slurred speech. When speaking, I smelled alcohol emanating from Altizer’s breath and person. When I asked Altizer for his driver’s license, he heavily struggled to pull out his wallet from his back pocket and then continued to struggle to find his driver’s license inside of the wallet,” Palacios wrote.
Palacios said she asked Altizer to perform a series of standardized field sobriety tests “to determine if he was intoxicated to which Altizer denied.”
“Altizer was then asked to step out of the vehicle. When doing so, Altizer (stumbled) out and almost fell when attempting to walk to the area I had designated him to . . . I then explained the standardized field sobriety tests to Altizer again, to which he denied performing several times. Based on Altizer’s driving, slowed reaction time, bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, stumbling and the smell of alcohol emanating from his breath and person, Altizer was arrested and placed in the back of (the) patrol unit,” Palacios wrote.
Palacios said Altizer agreed to provide a specimen of his breath, and she took Altizer to the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office, where the breath sample was taken. Palacios wrote in the affidavit that while at the sheriff’s office, Altizer “struggled to blow sufficiently and stand up straight without swaying.”
Palacios reported Altizer’s breath tests indicated blood alcohol levels of 0.207 and 0.205. The legal limit in Texas is 0.08.
Although Palacios did not include Altizer’s prior convictions for driving while intoxicated in her affidavit, they are included in the paperwork completed during his initial court appearance. They show Altizer was previously convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2005 and again in 2017.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole set Bond in the case at $20,000.
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