Police officers arrested a man early Friday morning and charged him with DUI after he left the roadway on Emery Street and significantly damaged about a dozen graves in West Hill Cemetery in Dalton, Georgia, a news release states.
Police said Cliff Erik Sneed, 41, of Dalton, was driving east in a black Chevrolet GMT 400 pickup at about 2 a.m. on Emery Street near the Georgian Apartments when the vehicle failed to make a curve, left the road and entered the cemetery.
Dalton police who responded to the scene gave Sneed several field sobriety tests and charged him with DUI (less safe driver) and failure to maintain lane.
Officers and Dalton Public Works Department personnel are working this morning to determine the exact number of graves that were damaged or destroyed and to compile a list of grave plot owners/next of kin to make contact and inform them of the damage, the release states.
A car left the roadway and damaged graves on May 3, 2019, in West Hill Cemetery cemetery in Dalton, Georgia. The driver was charged with DUI. / Photo from the Dalton Police Department