By Staff

(AXcess News) Chicago - Police in Proctor Minnesota couldn't believe what they saw, but acted accordingly when they pulled over Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, for drunk driving.  Not in itself something to attract the media, only Mr. Anderson wasn't in his car - he was driving a motorized La-Z-Boy chair.

According to reporter Mark Stodghill with the Duluth News Tribune, Mr. Anderson pled guilty Monday in St. Louis County District Court to DWI in connection with the Aug. 31, 2008 incident in Proctor.

The La-Z-Boy chair, powered by a converted lawnmower engine, was equipped with such accessories as a cup holder and stereo, which had adjustable power levels so it could be heard over the roar of the Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine.  Oh yes, Mr. Anderson felt his motorized La-Z-Boy chair needed to meet road requirements, so he also equipped it with headlights and a side mount mirror to see behind him.  But that didn't help Anderson back in August, when after having 8 or 9 beers at a local tavern he hopped into his motorized La-Z-Boy chair and headed for home, running into a parked car in the process.  It was there that Proctor police arrested the motorized La-z-Boy chair owner with drunk drinking.

The La-Z-Boy lounger manufacturer said Mr. Anderson's conversion of their chair into a motorized vehicle was not something customers could not order off the showroom floor, though the Company representative who spoke to AXcess News about it said he would not recommend others try to turn their La-Z-Boy chair into a motorized vehicle.  "We wouldn't recommend it, but you can't blame someone for liking their La-Z-Boy so much they wouldn't want to get out of it to go somewhere," the La-Z-Boy representative stated.

So much for promotional advertising, though we credit the La-Z-Boy ompany for not putting out a press release about the motorized model the Minnesota man built.

Mr. Anderson said, "I would never of hit the car and made it home alright if it weren't for this woman jumping into my lap," wanting to ride along in his La-Z-Boy motorized chair.