OTSEGO COUNTY (WWJ) - An ice fisherman was arrested for drunk driving in Northern Michigan after a DNR officer saw discarded beer cans and bottle of tequila in his ice shady — he then got behind the wheel less than an hour later.
Officials said Dan Liestenfeltz, a conservation officer with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, was checking on anglers at Otsgeo Lake, just south of Gaylord, when he came across an intoxicated man.
As stated in the DNR report, Liestenfeltz saw the man had several empty beer cans and an empty bottle of tequila in his ice shanty. The man told the officer that he was not driving and a friend was picking him up.
Not even an hour later, Liestenfeltz had made his rounds and was returning to his vehicle when he saw the intoxicated man from earlier driving a vehicle in front of him.
The DNR officer followed the man and was able to pull him over on Old US-27. After speaking once again to the man, Liestenfeltz conducted a sobriety test, which officials said the man failed.
On a preliminary breath test, the man registered over the legal limit, the DNR report stated.
The man was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and taken tot he Otsego County Jail.