Former Air Force Star Was DUI When Killed on I-85: Police

BUFORD, GA — A former Air Force football star had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was killed in a wreck on Interstate 85 in August.

Michael "Dee" Dowis, 48, of Simpsonville, S.C., had been traveling southbound in the northbound lane of I-85 near the Flowery Branch overpass, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.

It was about 4:43 a.m. when he pulled into the highway's center median and began to back up.

As he backed into northbound traffic, his 2014 BMW was struck by Jeremy Weiss, 22, of Raleigh, North Carolina, who was driving a 2015 Subaru, police said.

Dowis, who police say was not wearing a seat belt, was declared dead at the scene.

On Monday, police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said lab results showed Dowis, a native of Royston, Ga., had a blood-alcohol level of .20.

The legal limit for drivers in Georgia is .08.

Weiss will not be charged in the wreck, Pihera said.

Gwinnett County's medical examiner listed Dowis's cause of death as blunt force trauma caused by the traffic accident. He was thrown into the backseat of his BMW, police said.

Dowis finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1989, the highest finish ever for an Air Force Falcons player.

In 1987, as a sophomore, Dowis rushed for 1,315 yards, setting the single-season NCAA record for rushing by a quarterback.

He ran for another 972 yards in his junior year and, as a senior, became the fifth player in NCAA history to both pass and rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He ran for 1,286 yards that year and passed for 1,285.

To this day, he remains Air Force's all-time leading rusher, with a career total of 3,612 yards.

Photo courtesy Air Force Academy football