A former co-owner of the Chattanooga Whiskey Company has been arrested again, this time leading police on a chase through the Chattanoogan hotel.

Joe Ledbetter, 34, of Williams Street, resigned from the whiskey operation shortly after his initial arrest in June for being drunk and disorderly and making threats against a city police officer.

Police said on Saturday at 3:48 a.m. they got a report of a black male and a white male knocking down signs at 12th and Broad, then walking into the hotel. Police spotted a white male wearing a plaid shirt in the lobby. An officer checked with dispatch and was advised the white male they were looking for was wearing a plaid shirt.

Police said the man was flailing his arms about and appeared to be intoxicated.

He was ordered to stop, and he briefly halted and then faced police. Then he started running.

The chase went through the hallways and out of the hotel, then into an adjacent parking garage, then through a grassy ditch, then into the street beside the hotel.

Other police units joined the pursuit, and the man, who identified himself as Joe Ledbetter, gave up.

He said he was out having a good time with friends and was drinking whiskey.

Asked why he ran, he said he was "just being stupid." He said he did not want to get arrested again.

Ledbetter was charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and evading arrest, then taken to the County Jail.

In the June incident on a Sunday at 3:05 a.m., police said Ledbetter emerged from Hill City Pizza on Frazier Avenue.

An officer said he approached him and other officers while asking for assistance in getting a cab to take him home.

The officer said he immediately detected a very strong odor of alcohol from Ledbetter and noted that he had a very slurred speech.

He said Ledbetter was advised of several cabs that were on the street corner near him, but he "began to speak very loudly and insulting officers."

The report says people nearby began to stop and watch what was going on, and that Ledbetter was told he was disturbing other citizens.

The officer said Ledbetter continued to cause a scene. He said he was arrested after he said he was going to walk to his home on Jefferson Street south of East Main Street.

At the jail, the officer said Ledbetter told him he would not forget him, and warned, "I'm going to (expletive) you up."