Driver Charged With DUI After SUV Goes Into Retention Pond

ACWORTH, GA — An Acworth man was charged with driving under the influence after his vehicle left the roadway and entered into a retention pond in extreme southwest Cherokee County.

Deputies with the Cherokee Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the accident on 5:33 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26 to the scene on Northpoint Parkway at the Bartow County line. Deputies and Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services crews arrived to find a black Chevrolet SUV in the pond, and the county's Dive Team was called out to the scene to begin recovery efforts.

Initial information provided by 9-1-1 dispatches indicates the driver "was standing on the roof of the vehicle and swam to shore before the fire department's arrival," CCFES previously told Patch.

Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Marianne Kelley said the driver, identified as 50-year-old David Jay Miller, was traveling northbound on Northpoint Parkway "when he left the roadway (and traveled) into a retention pond where the vehicle slowly sunk."

He was able to climb out of the vehicle and make it to shore, she added. The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement Unit is conducting the investigation into the cause of the accident. However, Miller was arrested Friday and charged with DUI drugs and failure to maintain lane. He bonded out of jail on Saturday, Jan. 27.

Images via Cherokee Sheriff's Office