ANDERSON — City Councilman Ollie Dixon Sr. has been charged with driving while under the influence after Saturday’s arrest, where he was found to have a loaded gun that he hid from police and corrections officers at the county jail.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Anderson police pulled over Dixon’s 2001 Mercury Mountaineer near Seventh and Alhambra streets after witnesses reported a possible drunken driver in the area.

“I immediately noticed him to have red blood shot eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath,” the arresting officer noted.

Dixon has been arrested for suspicion of drunken driving twice before. In 1989, he pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence and was given one year of probation and ordered to pay fines, including a $300 donation to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

In 1990, Dixon was again arrested for misdemeanor driving while under the influence, but the case was dismissed and reduced to public intoxication.

On Saturday, Dixon was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.20 percent after a portable breath test was administered, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. He refused to take a blood-alcohol test and was charged with chemical test refusal and fail signal device in addition to misdemeanor DWUI.

Anderson police maintain that Dixon, 60, was patted down twice before being taken into custody and no gun was found.

Once taken to county jail, Dixon was searched two more times by corrections officers, Madison County Sheriff Ron Richardson said.

Despite four searches, Dixon was able to conceal a handgun from police.

After being thrown in the detox area of the jail, another inmate noticed the gun and alerted guards.

“He was walking around and the gun came out of one of his pants leg eventually. He picked it up and tried to conceal it again. We were alerted and went in to retrieve it,” Richardson said.

Richardson said officers did not perform a strip search on Dixon during his initial booking because of federal court cases that suggest officers should not perform strip searches without cause. “Our policy at the jail mirrors a case out of federal court. I know that to the common citizen it doesn’t make sense, but when someone is brought to jail on charges, we are allowed to do a pat-down search.”

When officers found the weapon on Dixon after being alerted, he was taken into a private cell and strip searched, Richardson said. No further weapons were found.

Dixon will not be charged in relation to the gun, as he was licensed to carry a handgun. The Herald Bulletin was able to obtain a copy of Dixon’s license, issued in 2005.

Dixon did not return calls by The Herald Bulletin on Monday and the type of weapon Dixon was carrying is unknown.

Richardson said he did not know what type of gun Dixon was carrying. On Sunday, Dixon said he could not remember if it had been his .38-caliber or his .357-caliber handgun.

After being booked into custody Saturday, Dixon was released on his own recognizance per Judge Thomas Clem’s order at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Dixon was not charged bond, Clem said, because the purpose of bond is to assure appearance at court hearings. Dixon, he said, was not a flight risk.

On Monday, Anderson City Council members had little to say about Dixon’s arrest. Most refused to comment. Mike Welch said “he didn’t use good judgment. I’m sorry that it happened.”

“I’m kind of stunned. It’s unbelievable,” Mayor Kris Ockomon said of Dixon’s arrest.



Contact Brandi Watters: 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com