Published: December 11, 2006 01:23 pm            

Santa charged with speeding and drunken driving

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A man accused of speeding down Main Street in Anderson has been charged with drunken driving. What was unusual was that he was driving a float in a Christmas parade at the time.

When officers caught up to 42-year-old David Allen Rodgers, he had an open container of alcohol in the truck he used to haul the children and adults on a float for the Steppin’ Out Dance Studio, Anderson Police spokeswoman Linda Dudley said.

Witnesses said Rodgers was driving in line in Sunday’s parade when he pulled out to pass a tractor in the float. Rodgers sped down Main Street and ran a red light, while a witness on the float called 911 on a cell phone, police said.

Officers started chasing Rodgers, who didn’t stop for three miles. Once he pulled over, he tried to attack an officer, Dudley said.

Rodgers, whose child was on the float, faces more than three dozen charges, including DUI, 18 counts of kidnapping and assaulting an officer, authorities said.

A woman who answered the phone at Rodgers’ home would not talk to a reporter and a message left at the dance studio was not returned Monday.

        

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