Very intoxicated UGA student was driving car with shredded tires

Jia Vishwa Patel

By Joe Johnson

A University of Georgia student was arrested after police caught her driving a sport utility vehicle with shredded tires while she was highly intoxicated.

An officer reported he was on Milledge Avenue at about 2:20 a.m. March 22 when he saw a 2022 Audi Q5 luxury SUV with two flat tires and conducted a traffic stop.

He noticed an odor of alcoholic beverage on the breath of the driver, 20-year-old man Jia Patel, who denied drinking and said that the last time she had alcohol was during parents weekend at UGA a few weeks before.

Examining the flat tires, the officer saw that they were “completely shredded,” and Patel admitted to having struck a curb with the vehicle. There was a strong odor of burning rubber from the tires, an indication that they’d been driven on for a considerable distance.

The student failed roadside sobriety tests, police said, and breath testing results showed a blood-alcohol concentration of .202 percent, twice the legal limit

Patel was arrested for DUI and cited for driving with the damaged tires.