Terrified motorists stopped a boozed-up driver on a Michigan highway so that cops could arrest him for DWI — his 13th such bust, police and witnesses said.
Michael Donald Hare, 62, was boxed in by alert motorists after driving slowly, erratically and refusing to let other drivers pass his green 1998 Ford Explorer as he traveled along Interstate 75 in Bay County late Saturday.
One driver said he even spotted Hare guzzling a beer while behind the wheel, one of many that police would later find inside Hare’s SUV, including several empty 24-ounce Busch Light cans and a half-empty 30-pack, according to police reports obtained by MLive.com.
A deputy found Hare’s Explorer on the side of a road with three other vehicles surrounding it, police said. One of the drivers who blocked Hare from leaving the scene said he knew he had to act after seeing the man nearly run over traffic cones at a construction zone.
“It was just a harrowing situation,” motorist Adam Schafer told WJRT. “He was going to kill somebody, there was no doubt about it.”
Hare then tried to restart his SUV as police approached, prompting a deputy to reach inside and pull out its key. Hare, meanwhile, reeked of beer, had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, as well as a 12-ounce can of Busch Light in a nearby cup holder, police said.
Hare, who refused a Breathalyzer test, also admitted to not having a license, but pleaded with a deputy to simply let him go despite several other empty beer cans that were found inside his SUV, police said.
Once at jail, Hare registered a 0.21 blood-alcohol content, nearly three times the state’s legal limit of 0.08 and above the state’s “super drunk” threshold of 0.17, MLive.com reports.
Michigan State Police said Hare had been barred from owning a car due to his previous drunken driving arrests and had not had a valid license since 1984. He also did three stints in prison after drunken driving convictions in Saginaw County, records show.
The license plate on Hare’s SUV actually belonged to a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado, which was abandoned by its owner in December 2017, MLive.com reports.
“He’s a danger to society,” Michigan State Police Lt. Brian McComb told WJRT. “These individuals will go out and buy a vehicle from a private person, but they don’t register it or get insurance on it, so they put a bad plate on it.”
Hare remained in custody Thursday on $150,000 bond. He’s due back in court on July 10. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney.
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