Christopher McCleskey

Name of Accused:
McCleskey, Christopher

Date of Arrest:
09/11/2024


Charges For Arrest:
Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officers-Misdemeanor
Hit and Run; Duty of Driver to Stop or Return to Scene of Accident
Following Too Closely
DUI-Driving Under the Influence
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 Wednesday, September 11, 2024
at approximately 1745 hours, I responded to the area of E Felton Rd and GA 61 in reference to a hit and run accident that had just occurred. Juvenile 1 (who was Driver 2 in the accident) stated that he had been sitting at the stop light on E Felton Rd, facing East, waiting to cross over GA 61, when he was struck from behind by a blue Chevy Silverado.
Juvenile 1 said that he and the driver of the Silverado, a black male with a bald head and large beard, relocated to the parking lot of 1144 N Tennessee St (Big Mama’s Laundry), at which point Driver 1 asked Juvenile 1 to not call the police due to the fact that ‘he had been drinking’. Juvenile 1 was on the phone with his mother at the time of that statement, and Juevenile’s Mother was able to confirm that she heard Driver 1 state that he had been drinking. When Juvenile 1 called the police for the accident, Driver 1 got into his vehicle and left the scene. Juvenile 1 was able to take a video of the vehicle, capturing the front end damage from the accident, the license plate, and the driver of the vehicle, who matched the description of the registered owner, Mr. Christopher Mccleskey.
While speaking with Juvenile 1, I observed the suspect vehicle traveling West on E Felton Rd and turn South onto GA 61, continuing past the accident scene without stopping despite seeing multiple police cars with lights engaged. Myself and Sgt. G. M. Cooney immediately went after the suspect vehicle and were able to conduct a stop on him in the area of [40 BLOCK] Felton Walk. The vehicle had the same front end damage and license plate as observed in the video that Juvenile 1 took, and the driver who got out of the vehicle also matched what was visible in the video as well as the registered owner Mr. Mccleskey.
Mr. Mccleskey seemed to be confused and claimed to not know why we stopped him. Mr. Mccleskey had a rumpled appearance with slurred speech, watery eyes, and the odor of alcoholic beverage about his person, as well as appearing to be unsteady on his feet. Mr. Mccleskey had to have questions repeated to him and when he responded his answered were hard to understand due to his slurred speech. Mr. Mccleskey first tried to state that he was not involved in an accident, and then when told that we had seen the video footage taken by Juvenile 1, he admitted that he was in an accident but that Juvenile 1 told him that he could leave. Mr. Mccleskey also changed his story several times about how the accident occurred, including stating that Juvenile 1 hit him from behind, despite the damage to vehicles not matching that order of events.
Due to the mannerisms that Mr. Mccleskey was exhibiting which are consistent with being under the influence of alcohol as well as the less safe act of causing an accident, Sgt. Cooney asked Mr. Mccleskey if he would submit to SFSTs. Mr. Mccleskey declined. I placed Mr. Mccleskey under arrest for DUI- Less Safe, Hit and Run, and Following too Closely. Mr. Mccleskey was handcuffed behind his back and the cuffs were checked for proper fit. Mr. Mccleskey was ed incident to arrest with no contraband located. Mr. Mccleskey was placed in the rear of my patrol vehicle. I read Mr. Mccleskey the Georgia Implied Consent-Over 21 (Green card), to which he refused to submit.
Mr. Mccleskey was transported to Cartersville Police Dept where I obtained a warrant for his blood. Mr. Mccleskey refused to allow the execution of the warrant and said that he would not consent to a sample of his blood being taken. Mr. Mccleskey was transported to Bartow County Sheriff’s Office and turned over to their custody without incident. The rear of my patrol vehicle was ed before and after transport as well as at the beginning of shift with no contraband found. An additional charge was obtained for Mr. McCleskey for Obstruction (M) due to him refusing to allow the execution of the lawful warrant for evidence of DUI located within his blood.
Mr. McCleskey’s vehicle was removed from the scene by Matthew’s Garage. The video taken by juvenile 1 was uploaded to Polaris.
[End of Narrative]