According to a Dalton Police Department incident report, On June 23rd, 2023, at 12:30, Officer Guerrero was dispatched to 1001 East Morris in reference to suspicious activity. The caller advised as she was parked, she noticed a black Dodge Challenger pull up beside her. The Hispanic driver was looking at everything in her shop from within his vehicle. She stated she thought this was weird due to it being midnight and her business recently being broken into. Officer Guerrero was advised the vehicle was circling the block a couple of times. While talking to the caller, they both observed the black Challenger pass by going south on 5th Ave. The Challenger then sped off at a high rate of speed. Officer Guerrero reported, “By the time [I] began driving south on 5th Ave from East Morris, the car was already at the stop sign located at 5th Ave and Lake St. [I] knew the car was driving at a very high rate of speed due to how far it had advanced in just seconds.” Officer Guerrero was able to initiate a traffic stop and made contact with all four occupants. Officer Guerrero reported, “Once [I] was at the car, [I] could see all the passengers moving around, and the driver would not roll the window down. At this time, [I] knocked on the window several times. The driver jumped and attempted to roll the window. The driver could not figure out how to roll the window down and instead finally just opened the car’s door. As soon as the door opened, [I] smelled a very strong odor of alcoholic beverage. [I] proceeded to inform the vehicle occupants why [I] was out with them. The driver would not look at me at all and would instead look back and away from me. [I] thought that was very strange. [I] asked the driver multiple times to look at me so [I] could talk to him, and he would not listen.” During the traffic stop, all the passengers were extremely nervous and moving around. They advised the officer they were on the way back from a party. Officer Guerrero observed several signs of impairment from the driver, identified as Juan Mazariegos-Velasquez, 19, of Dalton. Juan eventually stated he had only two beers prior to driving. During field sobriety testing, Juan showed several signs of impairment and showed positive for alcohol. Juan was placed under arrest for DUI and booked into the Whitfield County Jail, where he showed a BAC of .158 on the state test. Juan was charged with DUI under the age of 21 .02 or more, underage consumption, and driving while unlicensed. The passengers were cited for underage consumption and curfew violation.
Unlicensed teen arrested for DUI after call of suspicious activity of Dalton
