A Tennessee Department of Transportation employee who worked in Oak Ridge resigned Thursday after he was charged with driving under the influence following a police investigation of a crash at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Louisiana Avenue on Friday, Feb. 1, officials said.
Police said William Hays Halbert, 56, of Knoxville, had been driving a state-owned 2010 Ford F150 pickup truck, but he had slurred speech and bloodshot, watery eyes, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. Halbert smelled like alcohol and appeared to be confused, and he had a hard time following directions, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Garrett L. Robbins wrote in the affidavit.
William Hays Halbert
“The defendant performed poorly on standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs) displaying numerous cues of intoxication,” Robbins said. “Based on the defendant’s observations of Halbert’s performance on the SFSTs and his behavior, the affiant determined that the defendant (was) under the influence of an intoxicant to the point that it was unsafe and in violation of the law for him to operate a motor vehicle on a public roadway.”
TDOT spokesman Mark Nagi said the department had already begun the disciplinary process against Halbert when he resigned Thursday, but officials will not have to proceed further.
“We had been waiting on the final police report before proceeding,” Nagi said.
Nagi said Halbert had been with TDOT since May 1997, and he had worked as a transportation technician in the department’s Construction Division in Oak Ridge.
Halbert has been charged with driving under the influence (first offense) and violation of the implied consent law. He has a court hearing scheduled for Feb. 11. His bond has been set at $1,500, and he has been released from the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.
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