Man gets DUI charge after reporting abuse by Georgia sheriff
Posted May 31, 2019 06:51:31 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ALMA, Ga. — Police reports show a 75-year-old man who filed a complaint that a Georgia sheriff had grabbed him by the throat was arrested on a drunken-driving charge the following day.
Prosecutors charged Bacon County Sheriff Mark Cothren with elder abuse, battery and violating his oath of office after John Daniel Melton reported the sheriff to Alma police on May 22.
An incident report says Melton told police “he attempted to shake Sheriff Cothren’s hand and was grabbed by the throat and shoved into a pole.”
Alma police arrested Melton on a DUI charge the next day. A May 23 police report says Melton reeked of alcohol when he was pulled over for traffic violations. He was jailed in a neighbouring county.
It was not immediately known if Melton had an attorney.
The Associated Press
