Police have identified the driver accused of plowing through parked cars in the Maricopa Meadows on Thanksgiving night as 40-year-old Michael Lawson, who investigators say was more than three times the legal limit when officers found him beside his wrecked Cadillac SUV.
The new details come from a probable cause statement released today. Officers were called around 8:37 p.m. to Winston Road and Amsterdam Road after multiple residents reported a loud crash. One caller told 911 the driver appeared to be trying to flee, but the SUV was too damaged to move.
Police arrived to find a Cadillac with significant front-end damage that left it inoperable. Lawson identified himself at the scene. Maricopa Fire evaluated him for injuries, but he declined treatment.
Officers reported that Lawson smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot and watery eyes and swayed while standing. According to the statement, Lawson agreed to field sobriety tests and told officers he would fail because he was drunk. Police wrote that he could not begin or complete the walk-and-turn or one-leg-stand tests.
One of the struck vehicles suffered damage so severe it had to be towed, according to the report.
A breath test later measured Lawson’s blood alcohol concentration at 0.271, which is more than triple the legal limit of 0.08.
He was arrested on suspicion of DUI, criminal damage and failure to stop after an accident and booked into the Pinal County jail. If convicted, he could face more than a year behind bars, a revoked license and thousands of dollars in fines under Arizona sentencing guidelines.
