His SUV was dragging a gas hose and he told a deputy he didn’t see the problem

A 23-year-old Burton man was pulled over on Joe Frazier Road early Wednesday morning when a deputy spotted him dragging something down the road from his gas tank around 2:30 a.m.

It turned out when he left a service station he took something with him: A gas hose was trailing behind the man’s Dodge Durango with the nozzle still in the tank opening, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report. After the deputy watched the vehicle cross over the center line into oncoming traffic lanes, the driver was pulled over, the report said.

When the deputy asked the man to look at his gas tank, the man reportedly said he didn’t see anything wrong, according to the report. He told the deputy he hadn’t consumed alcohol but he did take a couple Advil PM pills when he was at the gas station after a stressful work day.

The deputy reported the driver’s breath smelled of alcohol so the deputy conducted a sobriety test, which the driver failed, according to the report. A subsequent Breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol level of 0.12.

The driver was charged with driving under the influence. He was taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center early Wednesday morning and released later the same morning, according to online detention center records. His bond information was not yet available.

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "His SUV was dragging a gas hose and he told a deputy he didn’t see the problem."