Name of Accused:
Watts, Rhonda Love
Date of Arrest:
05/30/2023
Charges for Arrest:
DRIVING ON ROADWAY/LANED FOR TRAFFIC
DUI – LESS SAFE
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On 10-25-2022 around 12:52 I, Corporal C. Scott responded to a single car crash on Bridge Creek Rd. where the driver stated that she had hit a tree head on (Case # 2022-10-00106). When I arrived to the crash, I located a blue in color Nissan Versa in the ditch across from [1400 BLOCK] Bridge Creek Rd. EMS personnel and fire department personnel were already on scene talking to the driver. I approached the driver’s door while the driver, Rhonda Love Watts, was speaking with EMS. I noticed Watts was showing signs of impairment while speaking with EMS.
Watts had glassy water eyes and constricted pupil size in both eyes. Watts also had very slurred speech making some things she said difficult to understand. While talking with Watts, she would look at me and her eyes would start shutting as if she was going to sleep. Watts was not shutting her eyes in pain, but her eyes would shut slowly and involuntarly. Watts stated that she had surgery on her back on Friday (10-21-2022) and that she felt that her back may have been messed up in the crash. Watts stated that a white in color truck had run her off of the road causing her to hit a tree.
It is to be noted that the vehicle had drove off the roadway for about 40 feet and into a ditch and stopped about 2 feet short of a tree, The vehicle had no airbag deployment and the seatbelt was not locked. I also did not see any black marks showing that she hit the breaks hard to avoid another car. The marks on the roadway were similar to a driver that fell asleep while driving.
While talking to Watts, I noticed that she could not focus on me. Watts would just look around while talking to me when her eyes were open. While talking to Watts, I could see a mark from the seatbelt on her left shoulder but no other injuries were visible. EMS removed Watts from the vehicle on a back board and loaded her into the ambulance. EMS needed Watts driver’s license from her purse. Her purse was located in the passenger side floor board and a pill bottle was laying on top. When moving the pill bottle, I noticed it was Ibuprofen 800mg. I picked up her wallet to recover her ID. Under her wallet was another pill bottle with Hydrocodone 325mg. Also, a bottle of Promethazine 12.5mg was located under her wallet.
I recovered her ID and handed it over to EMS, I then entered the back of the ambulance to speak with Watts. Watts was telling EMS that her chest hurt but, when she was asked where her chest hurt, she could not tell them. I asked Watts when the last time she had taken any prescription pills was and she told me when she had surgery and had not taken anything after that.
I then checked Watts pupils to be sure she had equal size pupils and she did. I checked to see if Watts’s eyes were reactive to light and her eyes had no reaction. I shaded her eyes from the light, checked her eyes again, and her eyes had no reaction to light. I then tried to check Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus and Watts had lack of smooth pursuit but could not hold her eyes open long enough to conduct an effective test. With all of the signs I was seeing I believed Watts to be impaired. I read Watts Implied Consent Notice For suspects age 21 or over for Blood and she agreed. I then asked EMS if anyone could do the blood draw and EMS [REDACTED] stated that he could.
I returned to my patrol car, recovered a GBI blood kit, and brought it to the ambulance. I opened it up and gave it to [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] was only able to get blood drawn from Watts right foot. [REDACTED] gathered the blood in the provided tubes and sealed them inside the GBI blood kit. [REDACTED] turned the GBI blood kit back over to me.
I did not place Watts under arrest due to her needing medical treatment. I then called for the on-call wrecker Smiths. I retuned to my patrol car and secured the GBI blood kit in the rear of my patrol vehicle.
Smiths wrecker service arrived and took possession of the vehicle. I then drove to Rabun County Sheriff’s Office where I turned the GBI blood kit in to be sent off for testing.
I then secured two warrants for Watts but put a hold on them until she can be treated for her injuries.
[End of Narrative]
