posted July 02, 2005 02:33 PM              

NEOSHO, Mo. (June 29) - An altercation developed after a car whose driver is accused of being intoxicated interrupted the procession for the funeral of a man killed last week - in a traffic accident alleged to have involved a drunken driver.

The altercation happened Tuesday afternoon during the funeral of David L. Weems, who died June 23.

Police, who were escorting the funeral procession, said that a car driven by David C. Casey, 22, allegedly ran a stop sign. The car interrupted the procession before crashing into a pharmacy near the city's downtown square.

At first it was believed that the hearse carrying Weems' body had been hit, but that was not the case. As police were checking, members of the dead man's family started getting out of their vehicles to confront occupants of the car that crashed into the pharmacy.

Additional officers were dispatched to help break up an altercation that police said involved close to 30 mourners.

Casey left the area and police found him about two blocks away. The police report said he denied involvement in the accident but agreed to a field sobriety test. The report said the test, conducted an hour after the accident, showed his blood alcohol content at 0.136 percent, well above Missouri's .08 legal limit.

Casey was arrested on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to have insurance and driving through a funeral procession.

Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com

06/29/05 19:16 EDT