An impaired Blairsville driver proved difficult to stop last week, but the combined efforts of the Union County Sheriff’s Office and the Blairsville Police Department resulted in an arrest with no injuries to the public, the driver, deputies or police officers.
Shortly before lunchtime on Wednesday, Jan. 28, E-911 received a call about a truck driving all over the road in the Bunker Hill area of Blue Ridge Highway. A BOLO, that is, a “be on the lookout,” was issued for the vehicle, and law enforcement responded quickly to the area.
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The 911 caller said the driver had even wrecked off the side of Blue Ridge Highway before managing to pull back into the road, where he continued to run other vehicles out of the roadway, Sheriff Shawn Dyer said.
Sheriff Dyer, Blairsville Police Chief Michael “Bear” Baxter and another city officer made it to the BOLO area at the same time.
“Chief Baxter met the vehicle first – he was in front of me just a little ways,” Dyer said. “He met the vehicle in the road just east of Bunker Hill Road, and it almost hit him. Then I met the vehicle east of Bunker Hill Road, and it was driving at me head on in the wrong lane.”
Dyer swerved, avoiding a collision by inches, and the driver went between Dyer’s vehicle and the patrol car that was following the sheriff, which got sideswiped in the process.
“We all got turned around and took after him, and he was running multiple vehicles off the road,” Dyer said. “He was just back and forth from one side of the road to the other, and cars were having to go plumb on the other side of the ditch to keep from getting hit head on.
“The Blairsville Police car passed him and got in front of him, and we ended up doing a rolling roadblock,” Dyer said. “As the police car got in front of him and slowed down a little bit, the guy hit him in the rear and started pushing him down the road.
“I came up on the righthand side, and Chief Baxter came up right behind him, and we were able to bring him to a stop in the roadway finally (in front of Pleasant Grove Church).”
Even though the vehicle had been successfully halted, the driver kept his foot on the accelerator. The truck was “running wide open spinning, trying to get out,” as the police cruiser in front held it in place, and the man had to be dragged from the vehicle to bring the situation to an end.
The driver, Albert Cutter, 81, was booked into the Union County Jail on charges of DUI, failure to yield to emergency vehicles, two counts possession of an open alcohol container, following too closely, failure to maintain lane and driving on the wrong side of the road.
“It was one of the most dangerous driving events I’ve seen in a long time; he put multiple lives in big danger,” Sheriff Dyer said. “People often wonder why it takes three or four or five deputies showing up to a call sometimes.
“This is the perfect instance that we needed multiple deputies to bring this vehicle to a stop quickly before somebody got killed. In this case, it took three vehicles to stop this man, and if he’d have gone another quarter mile, he’d have killed or hurt somebody really bad.
“That’s why, sometimes, we show up in force, to get the situation under control. But two people would have never stopped this vehicle.”
A single patrol car received damage, and fortunately, this was not a high-speed chase, which would have amplified the danger, and Dyer is thankful they were able to get Cutter off the road before a tragedy could occur.
While alcohol is suspected as a leading factor in the incident, investigators are looking into the possibility of other contributing factors, including age, medical conditions and prescribed medications, Sheriff Dyer said.
Cutter bonded out of jail last week and is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
