A judge concerned about public safety sentenced a 62-year-old North Texas man to life in prison for his 10th drunken driving conviction since the 1980s.

Ivy Ray Eberhardt, of Weatherford, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday. Eberhardt would be eligible for parole after serving 15 years.

"Part of my job is to protect the citizens of Parker County, and the only way that I can think of to do that from somebody that has 12 DWI arrests and 10 DWI convictions is to put you in a place that you can't drive for as long as I possibly can," Judge Craig Towson told Eberhardt.

The case involved an April 2014 driving while intoxicated stop in Parker County in which Eberhardt's blood alcohol level was almost four times the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Texas.

While free on bond in that DWI case, Eberhardt cut off an electronic ankle monitor and fled to Colorado, where he was again arrested for drunken driving, prosecutors said.

Eberhardt also had drunken driving conviction in Tarrant and Runnels counties in Texas, records show, and he served three prison terms for the convictions.

Weatherford is 25 miles west of Fort Worth.