Zachary PatyCharges of public intoxication and underage drinking against the son of a local judge were forwarded to a Hamilton County grand jury Wednesday. A charge of resisting arrest was dismissed.
Zachary Paty, 19, son of Chattanooga City Court Judge Sherry Paty, along with Mark Harden, 20, and Alexander Card, 19, faced charges related to a Jan. 4 arrest outside the Days Inn on Lee Highway.
In a General Sessions Court hearing, Hamilton County deputy sheriff Donnie Myrick testified he saw a dark-colored SUV backed up to a U-Haul trailer in the back of the hotel.
Myrick testified that he smelled alcohol and recognized the driver, Card, whom he’d stopped two weeks before. Myrick handcuffed Card and found a bag of suspected marijuana and cocaine in his clothes. Those items still are being tested at the state drug lab.
Myrick said Paty got out of the car, smelling of alcohol and slurring his speech, so the deputy handcuffed him, too. Harden tried to run but was caught and handcuffed, but while Myrick and his partner were doing that, he said, Paty ran at them screaming.