Trucking applicant sentenced in bizarre DUI case
A Stafford County, VA, man convicted of showing up drunk seeking a job as a truck driver at Estes Express Lines last year was ordered to serve two years and eight months in prison.
According to prosecutor Andrea McCauley, Michael Rene Ruiz, 51, went to the trucking company on Oct. 7 of last year seeking a job as a truck driver. Ruiz, who had no license and was drunk when he got to Estes offices, got into a dispute with company officials after being told no job was available.
Police were called after the conversation between Ruiz and the trucking company employees got heated. McCauley said Ruiz had already driven off when police arrived a few minutes later, but he left behind a 22-ounce beer that witnesses saw him toss from his vehicle as he drove off.
Police saw Ruiz outside a vehicle in a parking lot nearby a few minutes later. He told the arresting officer that she couldn’t prove he was driving drunk because she didn’t see him driving and he refused to take a breath or blood test.
Ruiz was sentenced in Stafford Circuit Court following convictions for driving while intoxicated (third offense in five years), driving on a revoked license and refusing to take a breath test, according to a Free Lance-Star report.
