Don't You Know Who I Am??

Assistant district attorney arrested on theft, intoxication charges

A Clarke County assistant district attorney resigned today, hours after his arrest downtown where he refused to pay for a hot dog during a drunken tussle with a street vendor.

William Michael Olson, 36, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of public intoxication and theft of services, Athens-Clarke police said.

A police officer responded to a 1:25 a.m. report of a fight at the corner of East Broad Street and College Avenue, police said.

A vendor told the officer that Olson ate a hot dog and walked away without paying, but before he left the prosecutor put his hands on the vendor’s chest two times, according to police.

When the officer caught up with Olson, the prosecutor said he didn’t know anything about a hot dog, though he had ketchup and mustard on his shirt, police said.

The officer noted Olson’s speech was slurred and his eyes bloodshot.

The officer told Olson he would arrest him if he didn’t pay for the hot dog, at which time the prosecutor pulled out his wallet and flashed his assistant district attorney badge and cautioned the officer, police said.

He “told me I needed to be careful” and asked if “I was sure that I wanted to do this,” the officer wrote in a report.

When a police supervisor arrived, Olson admitted to the officers that he’d been drinking, but couldn’t recall details of what just happened, police said.