Police: 2 charged after DWI seat swap in Alexandria

Melissa Gregory | The Town Talk

Show Caption Hide Caption Central Louisiana mugshots for week of June 19, 2017 Here are mugshots received from Central Louisiana law enforcement agencies for the week of June 19, 2017. A criminal charge is a formal accusation that someone has committed a crime. All those pictured are innocent until proven guilty. To view those held in Rapides Parish detention facilities, go to www.rpso.org/inmates/all.

Moments after spotting a male driver hit a median, a police officer pulled over the truck and found a woman behind the wheel.

Now both face charges in what the Alexandria Police Department is calling an attempted driver swap so the man could avoid another DWI charge.

"APD would like to remind the public that attempting to conceal evidence in a crime (for example, swapping seats with a drunk driver) is a felony," reads the release.

The officer was on Jackson Street near MacArthur Drive around 3 a.m. Saturday when he saw the driver hit a median near Chick-fil-A. While passing in the opposite lane, he saw a man in the driver's seat, then turned around to get behind the truck, it reads.

"While waiting at the red light, the officer saw the truck's brake lights turn on, followed by the reverse lights coming on and off, indicating the truck had been in park, then put in drive," it reads.

The officer pulled the truck over, although the driver didn't immediately stop, finally pulling over at the intersection of Jackson Street and Texas Avenue where another officer also arrived.

By that time, the woman in the driver's seat told officers she had been driving. The officers, however, determined that she had swapped seats with a man now in the back seat, reads the release.

After a DWI investigation, they arrested both 30-year-old Christopher Alan Chaffin of Billy Evans Road in Pineville and 22-year-old Venus Theresa Windham of the 5000 block of U.S. Highway 165 in Ball. Both were booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center.

Chaffin was charged with third-offense DWI, reckless operation, having an open container, not wearing a seat belt, driving under suspension and obstruction of justice. Windham was charged with obstruction of justice, not wearing a seat belt, having an open container and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Chaffin remains in jail as of Monday morning on a $12,150 bond. Windham was released later Saturday on bond.