Intoxicated man flees from deputy, fesses up to drug use

MARY ESTHER — A 21-year-old Niceville man faces three misdemeanor charges after he allegedly drove into a McDonalds parking lot while intoxicated at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

When an Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy approached the man in the restaurant, the suspect tried to walk away. He then told the deputy he had not driven the car, according to his arrest report.

The deputy noted that the man's "eyes were darting about as if (he was) looking for a direction to flee," the report said.

The deputy tried to detain him, but the barefoot man slipped away and ran across Mary Esther Cut-Off. Witnesses said deputies chased him through the Longhorn Steakhouse parking lot and that the man tried to get into two vehicles leaving the parking lot before he was caught.

The man said he ran because he had outstanding arrest warrants, the arrest report said. He also said he smokes marijuana on a regular basis and smoked crack cocaine less frequently.

Deputies found marijuana, a grinder, a pile and a digital scale in the man's car.