SLIPPERY ROCK — A suspected drunken driver — more than 3½ times and more than 4 times the limit for alcohol in consecutive months — is headed for trial in both cases.

District Judge Bill O’Donnell ordered Howard L. Watson, 42, of Muddy Creek Township held for court following a pair of preliminary hearings in Slippery Rock.

Trooper Jessica Cantella testified that she spotted Watson’s Chevrolet Avalanche pickup on Bauder Mill Road about 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17 while responding to a call for an erratic driver.

She said the defendant’s truck at one point crossed into her lane. She told Watson’s attorney, Stephen Misko, that his client “almost hit me.”

The defendant had already pulled into the driveway at his home on Bauder Mill Road when he got out of the truck.

Cantella said he was “staggering back to my vehicle.”

He reeked of alcohol and admitted that he had consumed “a few beers” that day, she testified. He also acknowledged that he was taking prescription medication for a bad back.

The defendant was unable to perform field sobriety tests due to his condition, according to testimony said, and he was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for a blood test.

Toxicology reports showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.292 percent. A level of 0.08 percent is considered intoxicated under state law. He also had marijuana and the prescription painkiller tramadol in his system.

Less than six weeks later, Watson again found himself arrested for drunken driving.

To learn more about this case, read Friday’s Butler Eagle.