LOCAL Athens-Clarke Commissioner Ovita Thornton denies 2nd DUI charge Wayne Ford Athens Banner-Herald Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Ovita Thornton is facing her second drunk driving charge in less than two months.

Athens-Clarke police charged Thornton, 71, with DUI and failing to yield following a mishap that occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday at North Lumpkin and Doughterty streets.

Thornton was booked hours later in the Athens-Clarke County Jail at about 8:45 p.m. Thursday then released from jail Friday morning on a $3,450 bond.

Ovita Thornton In February, Thornton was charged with DUI following a wreck on West Hancock Avenue, where police said she crashed into a utility pole.

Thornton, who represents District 9, told the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday that she was not under the influence of alcohol.

The case is unusual in that the incident report shows the responding officer engaged Thornton in a conversation and did not detect any alcohol on her or in her vehicle. He then left the scene only to return shortly afterward due to an order by a supervising officer, whereupon a sobriety test was administered and she was arrested.

Thornton said she agreed to the sobriety test.

"He said I failed the tests. I'm 71 years old. I cannot stand on one leg. I can't walk heel to toe and count to 1,000 without swaying," she said. "He didn't explain to me I could have said I have mobility problems. He told me what to do and he demonstrated it for me and I tried to do it.

"There's no way in the world I thought this was going to be a DUI. I volunteered to do a breathalyzer. I volunteered to do a urine test. I volunteered to do a blood test. But according to another police officer, even though I volunteered to do those, because I failed the sobriety tests, I was going to jail for DUI."

DUI:Athens-Clarke Commissioner Ovita Thornton faces DUI charge after crash

The police reports show an officer was dispatched to the location after witnesses reported a Hyundai Sonata struck a curb and a woman was inside “passed out behind the wheel.”

The officer arrived and reported he spoke with Thornton, who explained she was traveling on East Doughterty Street and could not see the yellow triangle curbing at a bank parking lot and she hit it while trying to pull into the parking lot. The airbag was deployed from the steering wheel, police said.

Thornton told the officer she was not injured and she denied drinking any alcohol. The officer noted that he did not smell any alcohol while conversing with her or see any signs of intoxicants inside the vehicle. She declined an accident report and said she would call a family member for assistance so the officer left, according to the report.

However, the officer reported his supervisor told him to return to the scene “to double-check on Ovita.” When the officer returned, Thornton was driving the vehicle and he made a traffic stop.

The officer reported that “she was a little unable to keep her balance, once I asked her to step out of the vehicle.”

Thornton still denied drinking, but she agreed to do the sobriety testing, the officer said. The officer wrote that she could not keep her balance, missed the heel-to-toe test, and was swaying.

When advised she was to be arrested for DUI, Thornton refused to be placed in handcuffs and transported to jail, according to the report.

But officers explained their procedures, whereupon she entered the patrol unit and was first taken to a local hospital for a blood test before going to jail.

"If I didn't say I'm humiliated and embarrassed I'd be lying, but I'll go through the process and I think everything will be fine," she said.