"This car that I'm behind right now was called in by an off duty police officer as being a possibly impaired driver," the Geneva police officer is heard saying in a recording from his dashboard mounted camera.
Just before 2 a.m. Monday, the officer begins following a smoking car, with a loud exhaust, that he believes is being operated by a drunk driver.
"There's all kind of smoke pouring out of that window," he remarks.
He pulls the car over on State Route 534. 21-year-old Shane Starlin of Newbury is behind the wheel, smoking a cigar.
"You can leave that cigar in the car," the officer advises, due to the large amount of smoke coming from the vehicle.
That later turns out to be a bad idea. When Starlin gets out of the car, he's wearing among other things a kilt, and leather boots. He tells the officer, out of the camera's view, that he had just left the annual Medieval Faire, a summer-time attraction.
"I noticed that your speech is a little bit slurred tonight, have you been drinking?" asked the officer. "Yes," replied Starlin, "About 3 to 4 beers."
As the officer administered a field sobriety test, they noticed heavy smoke coming from the car.
"You got papers on fire in the back of the car, what's what all about?" asked the officer.
Police believe the fire was sparked by the cigar he left in the car. Firefighters were called to put it out before Starlin was charged with drunk driving.
Geneva police say Starlin's breath test results were .141, above the legal limit of .08. He was cited for having a loud exhaust and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Starlin plead no contest at his arraignment this morning in Western County Court. He was fined almost $600, and his license will be suspended for 180 days. Starlin will also be on supervised probation for one year.
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