A man who fell asleep in his car in a fast-food drive-thru lane — on his second go-around — was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in a Central Valley town, police said.
The driver, identified as Phillip Rodriguez, was shown in a Facebook video posted Sunday by police in Madera, northwest of Fresno. His head hung down as he slept inside a silver sedan a few feet from a restaurant’s drive-thru window.
“Phillip drove through the drive through lane twice. The second time he fell asleep and could not be woken up,” the post stated.
He fell asleep with his foot on the brake pedal, but a police cruiser was parked head-on in front of the driver’s vehicle to ensure it did not roll forward while he was sleeping, according to the post.
The Madera Police Department had warned drivers about a planned DUI checkpoint over the weekend, but stated that Rodriguez never went through the checkpoint.
“A quick stop at a local fast-food restaurant proved to be his undoing,” the police Facebook post read.
A chemical test for Rodriguez showed a blood-alcohol level of .16, twice the legal limit in California, police said. The video showed him stumbling through a field sobriety test.
Police stressed that it is illegal to be behind the wheel while drunk even in a parking lot.
“The last thing we want is intoxicated drivers in the same parking lots that are being used by innocent families,” police said in the post.
