A Birmingham City Council member was arrested for DUI in a city vehicle in South Alabama over the weekend.
Councilman JT Moore, who is chairman of the Community Development Committee and a member of the Public Safety Committee, was pulled over on the side of Interstate 65 in the pre-dawn hours Sunday.
Moore and city officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Creola Police Chief Shane Stringer said police received a call at 3:55 a.m. Sunday about a possible drunk driver on I-65 near mile marker 20. When officers arrived, they found a black Chevrolet Tahoe with a blue municipal tag pulled to the side of the interstate.
Stringer said the driver — later identified as Moore — was unconscious.
The officers, the chief said, were “banging on the window trying to get his attention.”
“Eventually he came to and they had to open the door,” Stringer said. “They could immediately smell alcohol.”
Officers began speaking with Moore and he admitted to officers that he had been drinking. Because Moore admitted he had been drinking, the chief said, the officers, for safety reasons, did not conduct a field sobriety test because they were on the interstate.
Moore was taken to the Saraland Police Department where he was given an alcohol test and a field sobriety test.
“He failed at all of the above,” Stringer said.
Moore was then booked into the Mobile Metro County Jail.
The vehicle was found to be registered to the City of Birmingham. It was pulled off the interstate.
“The cops contacted me early this morning and told me they had arrested a Birmingham council member for DUI,” Stringer said.