Police: Fugitive found passed out in vehicle

Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com

LUZERNE  - A man wanted for more than a year on charges he failed to appear in court on drunken driving charges was arrested by Swoyersville police on evidence of drunken driving on Saturday.

Richard Morgan Cooper, 39, last known address as Butler Street, Forty Fort, was charged with drunken driving after police allege they found him passed out inside a vehicle on Main and Bennett streets, Luzerne, at about 12:56 a.m.

Police said in the criminal complaint that Cooper, after he was awakened, struggled with officers.

Cooper was transported to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital where he refused to submit to a blood alcohol test, the criminal complaint says.

A Luzerne County judge issued an arrest warrant for Cooper when he failed to appear at a hearing in May 2008 on drunken driving charges filed by Wilkes-Barre police, according to court records.