Man shows for weekend jail time drunk

By Staff, 03/3/17 6:50 PM

HOPE – Sometimes what people do can only make others scratch their head wondering what they were thinking.

Take the case of Stephen Newton, 43, of Hope. Newton was scheduled to serve time in the Hempstead County Detention Center on weekends for driving while under the influence. He’d been convicted of DWI in 2016. However, at 3:10 p.m. Friday, a deputy with the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office was pulling into the lot at the HCSO when he saw another deputy talking to a man laying in a parking spot.

The deputy went over to the other and learned the man laying in the parking spot was Newton, who was there to serve time during the weekend. However, Newton was drunk and reportedly said he didn’t want to go to jail just yet.

Deputies asked Newton how much he’d had to drink and were told “a lot, but I’m not driving”, as though that mattered at the time. The two noted Newton’s speech was slurred to the of almost being not understandable. They told Newton he could go to jail and serve his time, as ordered of be arrested for public intoxication.

According to a report from the HCSO, Newton told the deputies he wasn’t ready to go to jail at the time and was just going to sit there. He was placed under arrest and helped to his feet, at which time he was handcuffed. The deputies took him into the facility as he was unable to walk on his own. He was charged with public intoxication.