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Forsyth County grand jury indicts habitual drunk driver in two separate incidents

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By: Isabel Hughes
A grand jury recently indicted a Cumming man on charges of driving under the influence from two separate incidents that occurred nine months apart. Michael K. Joseph, 51, faces charges of serious injury by vehicle, hit and run, driving under the influence and violation of habitual probationary license from a Nov. 27, 2015 accident with a bicyclist. He was also indicted on two counts of DUI and two counts of violation of habitual probationary license from an Aug. 4, 2016 incident where he was found passed out in his 2009 gray Honda Accord in front of his home. He was subsequently arrested for DUI after deputies determined he had driven home. In Nov. 2015, Joseph was reportedly driving the Accord on Buford Dam Road near Lanier Beach South Drive when he rear-ended a bicycle and did not stop and report the accident. Forsyth County deputies responded to the scene, where they found the 46-year-old bicyclist severely injured, his “lung, shoulder and ribs useless,” according to the indictment. Officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department also responded to the scene after they determined Joseph had been in another hit and run accident prior to the Forsyth County crash, the incident report said. Joseph has previously been convicted in Gwinnett, Loganville and Forsyth County of driving under the influence, according to the indictment. The bicyclist, James Berryman, was transported to North Fulton Hospital and was later cited with two misdemeanors — pedestrian under the influence and improper lighting on his bike. Court records show he paid a fine of $141.50 and the pedestrian under the influence case was disposed. Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley will preside over Joseph’s case, for which a date has not yet been set. He posted a $8,360 bond after he was booked into the Forsyth County Jail.

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