Burlington Man Faces Third OUI, Minutes After Warning Not To Drive

LOWELL -- A 37-year-old Burlington man can't say he wasn't warned.

John Diggins was arrested early Friday morning and charged with his third drunken-driving charge, despite being warned by a Billerica police officer minutes earlier not to get behind the wheel of his truck because he was too drunk to drive.

Billerica Police Officer Raphael Mendez explained in court documents that at around 1 a.m. on Friday, the officer spotted Diggins outside his truck in the parking lot of the Newtowne Grille at 838 Boston Road. Diggins was standing on the truck's running board, the keys were in the ignition, but the vehicle wasn't running.

Mendez alleges Diggins appeared "highly intoxicated,'' unsteady on his feet and slurring his words. Diggins allegedly denied he would be driving home, instead he insisted he called Uber for a ride home.

Mendez wrote in his report that he warned Diggins not to drive because he would be patrolling the area and he would be arrested. But 35 minutes later, Mendez states he was on patrol on Boston Road when he saw the black truck pull out of the restaurant's parking lot and onto Dorset Avenue with Diggins behind the wheel.

As soon as the cruiser's blue lights went on, Diggins stopped his truck and jump out with his hand up, apologizing because he knew he " shouldn't have been driving,'' according to court documents.

While putting Diggins through field sobriety tests, Mendez wrote that Diggins asked Mendez multiple times why he was doing this to him and asked Mendez to give him a break, according to court documents. Diggins refused a breathalyzer test.

In Lowell District Court on Friday morning, Diggins pleaded not guilty to operating under the influence of alcohol - third offense. He has two prior drunken-driving convictions in 2003 and 2000.

While prosecutors asked for $2,500 cash bail, defense attorney Jamal Aruri argued that Diggins' last drunken-driving conviction was 14 years ago. Aruri successfully argued that Diggins be released on bail.

Photo of John Diggins by Lisa Redmond/lisa.redmond@patch.com.