Sunday evening, Cottonwood Police dispatch received a 9-1-1 call of a suspected impaired driver. Sergeant Monica Kuhlt says the caller reported almost being hit them by a blue Chevy pickup. Kuhlt says officers later located the driver, identified as 51-year old Robert Lee Burns of Cottonwood, asleep in his truck, in the middle of the Suzy Q market parking lot. She says officers noticed a strong odor of an alcohol coming from inside of the cab when they woke Burns and asked him to step out of the vehicle. Burns, whose speech was incoherent, refused and made a gesture with his hand as if it were a gun and he was shooting the officers. Kuhlt says Burns had to be forcibly removed from the truck and put up a brief struggle before being placed into handcuffs. She says the investigation revealed Burns is a prohibited possessor on supervised release from the Arizona Department of Corrections and has a suspended driver’s license. Kuhlt says Burns was in possession of large knives, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
