Drunk driver arrested for 9th DWI charge, prior arrests going back to 1989

BATON ROUGE - Police arrested a 56-year-old man for his 9th DWI late Friday night after he was caught driving recklessly on the roadway.

Police initially noticed Ferman Smith change lanes without signaling while driving through the 1900 block of North Acadian Thwy just after midnight. He then began driving in both lanes of the road on the 2900 block of Winbourne Avenue, at which point police initiated a stop.

After being questioned about the strong smell of alcohol emanating from him and his vehicle, Smith admitted to having consumed two beers earlier that night. He then refused all field sobriety tests.

Smith was taken into custody and continued to refuse all tests and breathalyzers. Police obtained a warrant for a blood sample to be tested for alcohol content. Results of the test are pending.

During their investigation, police discovered that Smith was driving on a suspended license resulting from prior DWI arrests. In all, Smith has eight previous arrests on record for DWI, the earliest going back to early 1989. He was arrested as recently as April and June of 2019 for refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test.