FedEx van driver charged with DUI, open container after Fort Mill traffic stop

The driver of a FedEx van was arrested on several charges, including DUI and open container, after a caller reported a man slumped over behind the wheel of the vehicle Thursday, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

The caller told dispatch about 10 p.m. Thursday that the driver of the FedEx van was slumped over in a parking lot on Carowinds Boulevard but left, heading toward Interstate 77, according to a sheriff’s report. Deputies pulled the van over on I-77 North at the U.S. 21 bridge.

The driver, 42-year-old Erick Cover, of Charlotte, appeared lethargic and confused, deputies said. He told deputies he had a medical condition but hadn’t taken his medicine in two days.

Cover said he drank a beer earlier, and an officer noticed a brown paper bag on the van’s floor that contained a partially consumed 40-ounce beer and a receipt indicating Cover had purchased the beer less than an hour earlier, deputies said. Cover was arrested and charged after failing multiple field sobriety tests.

Deputies later discovered that Cover’s driver’s license was suspended in North Carolina for failure to pay, the report states. Cover was charged with DUI, no driver’s license and open container. The FedEx van was released to a licensed driver.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 8:22 AM with the headline "FedEx van driver charged with DUI, open container after Fort Mill traffic stop."