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TexasTowelie

(116,749 posts)
Sat Feb 4, 2017, 05:25 AM Feb 2017

Sheriff: Man told not to smoke on bus sets driver's hair on fire, leads wild 95-mph chase

What began as one man’s trip to the supermarket for two gallons of milk — in, of all places, Georgia’s dairy capital — spilled over into a 95-mph police chase through two counties.

All because, as the Putnam County sheriff tells it, a man named Michael Douglas Freeman wanted to smoke a cigarette on a bus — and because Freeman had apparently been drinking more than milk.

Freeman, a retiree who lives near the northern shores of Lake Sinclair, was a passenger on a Putnam Transit bus Friday afternoon. He had ridden the bus into Eatonton on Friday morning and was toting the milk he’d just bought.

About 3:30 p.m., when he was almost home, Freeman lit a cigarette, Sheriff Howard Sills said. The woman driving the 20-seater bus with Freeman and another man on board promptly told Freeman to put out his cigarette.

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/news/local/article130744334.html

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Sheriff: Man told not to smoke on bus sets driver's hair on fire, leads wild 95-mph chase (Original Post) TexasTowelie Feb 2017 OP
Wow! Rhiannon12866 Feb 2017 #1
I bet that the old folks that ride the bus TexasTowelie Feb 2017 #2
Well, I got the impression that no one else was actually on it at the time Rhiannon12866 Feb 2017 #3
It was his seventh DUI rateyes Feb 2017 #4
Well, I'm guessing he was riding the bus because he couldn't legally drive groundloop Feb 2017 #5
I'm good with therapy in prison. rateyes Feb 2017 #6

TexasTowelie

(116,749 posts)
2. I bet that the old folks that ride the bus
Sat Feb 4, 2017, 06:00 AM
Feb 2017

have not had that much excitement in decades. I'm thinking about "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" and "Deadman's Curve" when I read that story--go granny go!

Rhiannon12866

(222,072 posts)
3. Well, I got the impression that no one else was actually on it at the time
Sat Feb 4, 2017, 06:12 AM
Feb 2017

He made the other passenger and the driver get off before he took off in the bus - at least that's how I read it. It said he even threw the driver's purse after her.

I'm considering borrowing this story and posting it on GasBuddy, the only other online board I participate in. It's not the sort of place where you can have discussions. It's not set up that way. The point is to post local gas prices so people can see the cheapest places to buy gas, but there's also a section for posting relevant articles, and this one is about transportation...

The participants on GasBuddy seem to mainly be retired folks - from all over the US and Canada - who like to cruise around and keep up with local gas prices. So this story might be a big hit with them.

groundloop

(12,261 posts)
5. Well, I'm guessing he was riding the bus because he couldn't legally drive
Sat Feb 4, 2017, 06:22 PM
Feb 2017

But, at some point we need to understand that addiction is a disease and offer treatment while offenders are incarcerated. My cousin (in another state, not Georgia, had a bad DUI problem and actually did go through addiction therapy while in prison. He's still sober to this day.

rateyes

(17,453 posts)
6. I'm good with therapy in prison.
Sat Feb 4, 2017, 07:15 PM
Feb 2017

I am a retired liberal minister turned School teacher. I buried a 12 year old boy on the day before Thanksgiving who was killed instantly in a wreck caused by a drunk driver. His daddy went to the hospital and hung on for about a month and I did his funeral on Christmas Eve.

No one should be given that many chances to put others lives at risk.

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