Carnival worker arrested for operating children's ride while intoxicated

LAGRANGE COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) A carnival worker was arrested on Tuesday and faces misdemeanor public intoxication charges for operating a ride at the LaGrange County 4-H fair while intoxicated.

Martin was in charge of operating a carnival ride for children; he let them on and off the ride, secured them in and controlled the speed of the ride.

The carnival manager told the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department that he thought that Melvin R. Martin, 51, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

According to the affidavit for probable cause, the officer at the scene noticed that Martin's "manual dexterity was very poor, he had mumbled speech, bloodshot eyes, and the overwhelming odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his breath."

Martin blew a .21% on a portable breathalyzer test. The legal limit in Indiana is .08%.

Martin told the officer that we was an alcoholic and had been drinking a lemon shake-up with vodka while he was operating the ride.  Police say Martin had been hired shortly before the incident.

"If you're going to hire somebody to work on rides and handle small children, I think you ought to do some kind of background check on these individuals to make sure you don't have somebody on here like a sex offender or somebody that has a drinking problem or those kind of things to operate this equipment," said Terry Martin, LaGrange County sheriff.

Court documents said the carnival manager called police on his own employee.  NewsChannel 15 tried to talk to the manager, Bill Deaton with W.D. Deaton Amusements, about the hiring process for his employees.  Deaton had no comment on the process.

Martin was arrested for public intoxication and the "substantial risk of injury and life that was created by operating carnival equipment while highly intoxicated," according to the affidavit.