FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — A prominent metro Atlanta businessman - and the director of a major development group has been arrested in Forsyth County.
Roger "Tad" Leithead Jr. who heads up the Cumberland Community Improvement District (CID) was arrested after a caller reported he was sitting outside his car in the middle of the street in Forsyth County. The driver, later identified as Leithead, eventually got back in his car and drove away, but the caller followed until he pulled over in a parking lot.
Officers soon arrived and found Leithead leaning up against his car as they began their investigation. Leithead told them he was heading from Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee back to his home in Cobb County. But as he explained his travel plans, a responding officer smelled alcohol on him.
Leithead was described as having slurred speech and "blood shot watery eyes" in an incident report filed by the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office - despite saying he drank very little that day.
The report said he was unable to complete any of the roadside tests properly. The "walk and turn" and "one leg stand" tests weren't conducted since the responding officer said Leithead showed an "inability to follow simple instructions or stand up without falling over." He eventually consented to a blood alcohol test that showed a reading of .129 - well over the legal limit of .08.
Leithead was placed under arrest and his car searched. Investigators found an opened bottle of vodka in the rear passenger section of his car.
Further breathalyzer tests at the Forsyth County jail showed Leithead with blood alcohol levels of .180 at 6:31 p.m. and .178 just five minutes later. He was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence.
Based on information provided on the Cumberland CID, Leithead is the executive director of the group, which works as a public-private partnership that aims to "advance needed public infrastructure projects" in the northwest region of metro Atlanta.
The group is made of 190 commercial business owners who, according to the CID, represent a third of the land in the district but amount to 60 percent of its $6.1 billion value. The CID is funded by commercial property owners.
Leithead's business history extends far beyond the Cumberland CID, however. Over the last three decades, he has been involved in several major metro Atlanta developments and was a founding member of Childress Klein Properties.
He also served on the Atlanta Regional Commission Board for 12 years and helped found several other CIDs according to his own bio.
