10/31 – After you read this, look at the Updated Post here.
11/3/09 – Another update! DWI La-Z-Boy Isn’t – Trademark Foul Kills E-Bay Auction at $43,500
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Drinking and driving is always a bad combination, but a Minnesota man has taken DWI in a more casual direction. Dennis LeRoy Anderson of Proctor, Minnesota (near Duluth), pled guilty Monday of DUI … while on a La-Z-Boy recliner!
The 61 year old Anderson had converted a La-Z-Boy recliner with wheels, a lawnmower engine, stereo, cupholders and headlights (see photo). Anderson does auto body work when he’s not making furniture into hot rods.
Unfortunately, he had a lot too much to drink before climbing into his chair, registering a 0.29% blood alcohol content, 3-1/2 times the legal limit! Anderson left the Keyboard Lounge on August 31, 2008, hopped on his La-Z-Boy but promptly crashed it into a real car in the parking lot.
Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault said the chair is "quite decked out." Along with the stereo and cup holders, it is powered by a converted lawnmower
with a Briggs & Stratton engine, a steering wheel, headlights and a power antenna.
Foucault estimated that the La-Z-Boy can top out at 15 to 20 miles per hour. A National Hot Rod Association sticker adorns the headrest.
The chair was impounded and will be sold at the next police auction.
"We have quite a few people calling about buying it," said Foucault, who half-seriously acknowledged that he’s tempted to bid on it, except that "I have kids who would take it out and drive it on the street."
Anderson, with a prior conviction for drunken driving, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and a fine of $2,000.
Driving while drunk is serious business. As my partner Mike Bryant has written, drunk drivers can cause serious injuries to themselves and others.
Notice the ill-advised between-the-legs placement of that steering column/gearshift lever/whatever it is? I gotta think that "second collision" at 15-20mph could have caused more than "minor injuries." Ouch!
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10/31 – Updated Post here.
11/3/09 – Another update! DWI La-Z-Boy Isn’t – Trademark Foul Kills E-Bay Auction at $43,500
