Assistant principal charged with DUI after crashing into barricade at Spring Fling

The assistant principal of Waddell Elementary School was taken into custody early Sunday and charged with DUI after the car he was driving crashed through a barricade and into the Spring Fling pedestrian walk at the Columbus Civic Center.

Eric Paul Grigsby, 42, of Columbus also was charged with having an open container during his 1:40 a.m. arrest at 400 Fourth St., and taken to the Muscogee County Jail. He was later released on bond.

A police officer was working security at the event when he observed a 2008 black Dodge Charger crash through a barricade into the Spring Fling pedestrian walk way. Traveling south from Fourth Avenue, the driver traveled through the fairgrounds past several rides and food vending stands, police said.

Grigsby told the officer that he was trying to turn around and didn’t realized he was in the fairgrounds. Suspected of being under the influence, Grigsby told the officer that he had consumed a beer or two.

After conducting a series of field sobriety tests on Grigsby who refused a breath test, the officer placed Grigsby under arrest and he was taken to the county jail.

Two empty Crown Royal bottles were found inadvertently in the center console of the Dodge Charger.

This story was originally published April 12, 2018 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Assistant principal charged with DUI after crashing into barricade at Spring Fling."