Miles Cothran
A 27-year-old Hunter Middle School basketball coach and substitute teacher has been suspending pending the outcome of a DUI arrest.
Miles Cothran, of British Road in Ooltewah, was also charged with possession of a handgun while under the influence of an intoxicant, and violating the open container law.
A county deputy said he was at the Circle K gas station on Highway 58 in Harrison on Wednesday at 3 a.m. when he saw a car parked at a weird angle at a gas pump.
He said there was a person reclined in the driver's seat.
The deputy said he knocked on the car window and the man behind the wheel began to move around. He said he began to open his eyes after he knocked harder.
He said when the man opened the car door "an overwhelming odor of consumed alcoholic beverage was smelled."
The deputy said he asked Cothran how much he had to drink and was told none. He said he told him he was lying, then he said Cothran said in a slurred speech, "I had one."
The deputy said there was an open bottle of tequila on the passenger seat. He said he found another empty tequila bottle and a third bottle of tequila that was unopened.
Also in the passenger seat was a loaded Taurus handgun.
The deputy said he smelled an odor of cannabis from the car, and Cothran said there was a small amount of it in the car.
The deputy said Cothran stumbled out of the car and was too drunk to undergo field sobriety tests.
A wrecker was called to remove the vehicle.