Under the direction of Lt. Austin Garrett the Chattanooga Police Department has developed a program to stop car crashes and save lives. The plan involves DUI officers making traffic stops and sending the information to Officer John Collins who coordinates offenses with the Chattanooga Beer Board. The Beer Board is seen as the venue to identify patterns and where the problems are coming from, leading to a partnership with those businesses to help them make corrections, Lt. Garrett told the Beer Board members at the Thursday morning meeting.
Since September, DUI officers, sometimes joined by Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies, have analyzed and compared traffic stops and determined patterns that indicate where the problems originate.
Since October 2017, seven DUI stops in the vicinity of Brainerd Road have all led back to Skyzoo, 5709 Lee Highway.
On Thursday, six of the seven violations of the city’s beer code for selling alcohol to “any feeble-minded, insane or otherwise mentally incapacitated person” were brought to the board meeting with a seventh slated to be heard at the next meeting on Jan. 18. Of the cases heard Thursday, four of them received suspensions of the bar’s beer license, one was moved to the next meeting and one was dismissed.
In all cases the DUI stops were made after police saw the cars in or leaving the Skyzoo parking lot. In each case, the drivers failed field sobriety tests and breathalizer testing showed intoxication and all but one person that was stopped admitted to drinking at the bar. There, however, was no follow up done at Skyzoo to retrieve security films of the offenders being served. Board member Andre Harriman voted against giving every violation for lack of that hard evidence. The required five votes were received from the other board members who recognized a pattern and took the word of the Chattanooga police officers who made the stops. After this meeting, with all suspensions running consecutively, Skyzoo will not be allowed to sell beer from Jan. 13 through Jan. 31.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Chattanooga Police Officer Jeffrey Miller went to Skyzoo on a “fight call.” While there, he saw a car leaving the parking lot go directly into the path of another car which it hit. The uninsured driver who failed the field sobriety test told him that it would not have happened if she had not been drunk. The bar was given a three-day suspension, starting Jan. 24, of its beer permit for over-serving.
A vote was to dismiss a violation that occurred on Oct. 26 when a customer was stopped after leaving Skyzoo at 2 a.m. swerving through the lanes along the road and head-on into the lane where Officer Michael Terry was driving. The patron from the bar failed the field sobriety test, measured .157 on the breathalizer and was taken into custody and charged with DUI. Because audio of the stop failed to record, there was no evidence saying he had been drinking at Skyzoo, and no wristband from the bar was documented. The board dismissed the incident for a lack of evidence.
On Nov. 14, Officer Miller saw a car leaving Skyzoo at 3 a.m., obstructing the roadway, and travelling at a high speed and swerving down Highway 153. The vehicle exited onto Ringgold Road where he was stopped, failed the field test and was arrested. In the back of the police car he attempted to pull the door handle and escape. While paperwork was being processed, he threatened a deputy. The penalty of a five-day suspension of the beer license starting on Jan. 27. to run consecutively with the first, was imposed for this offense of over-serving.
Two DUI arrests were made on Nov. 26. The first was when one car hit another in the parking lot, then backed into a telephone pole, and the driver fled the scene. With a description of the suspect and a license number from the security guard, Officer Terry found the car and uncooperative driver in the driveway of his home. This violation earned the bar a three-day suspension starting Jan. 21.
The second stop made on Nov. 26 was of a swerving driver whose driver told the officer she didn’t know why her car smelled like marijuana, but said she had had two drinks at Skyzoo. Because she refused a breathalizer test, a search warrant was obtained for a blood sample with results still pending. This case has been moved to the next board meeting when the number is known.
On Dec. 1, Officer Terry stopped another swerving car on Lee Highway. This driver failed all tests and said he had come from Skyzoo. The penalty for this offense is a three-day suspension of the beer permit starting Jan. 18.
An additional case involving DUIs originating from Skyzoo will be heard at the next beer board meeting.
The Chattanooga Riverboat Company, 201 Riverfront Parkway, Pier 2, was also penalized for selling beer to a minor on Jan. 14, 2016. The TABC gave a 15-day suspension starting on Jan. 2, 2018. After receiving the suspension, the company got professional training and told the board that it had learned from the mistakes. "That is what we tell everybody to do," said board member Christopher Keene. The beer board mirrored the penalty with a 15-day suspension of the beer permit, starting Jan. 2, 2018. This will include the riverboat, and two other bars that the company operates.
A new beer permit was given to American Draft, 34 Choo Choo Ave. This business will be an automated beer kiosk in one of the train cars at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, where customers will be ID’d and given a wrist band and card that will activate 29 different taps of beer. After two pints the customer will have to check in with a “responsibility checker” to reassess the individual.
Rossville Corner Market, 3700 Rossville Blvd., was also given a beer license because of an ownership change.