photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Sept. 4, 2024.

Updated at 7:48 p.m. Monday, July 28

A man who is on diversion in a 2024 case of drunk driving and fleeing police was arrested again Sunday on suspicion of DUI and aggravated battery.

Kody Charles Rothfus, 33, was charged Monday with the two new offenses. The charging document alleges that his blood alcohol level was .209, more than twice the legal limit of .08, and that while driving drunk he caused great bodily harm or disfigurement to another person.

The Douglas County Jail booking log indicates that Rothfus was arrested just before 3 a.m. Sunday at West Sixth and Florida streets.

According to information from Lawrence Police spokeswoman Laura McCabe, a person called police to report someone lying in the road with obvious facial injuries. Officers learned that the person had fallen from a motorcycle, which was at the scene along with the motorcycle’s owner. A field sobriety test on the owner indicated intoxication.

McCabe did not have a condition update on the injured man Monday evening, but said he had been taken to a trauma center with potential head injuries.

Rothfus had recently entered a diversion agreement in a case from Sept. 19, 2024, in which he was charged with fleeing and eluding police, interference with law enforcement, DUI, open container and no proof of insurance.

A diversion is a legal process by which a defendant can avoid prosecution and ultimately have the charges dismissed if he abides by the terms of the diversion agreement.

In that agreement, filed earlier this month, Rothfus stipulated that he was speeding by as much as 40 mph over the limit and eluding police just after 1 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2024, in northern Lawrence, that he ran multiple stop signs, drove around tire-deflating devices, drove the wrong way down the road and didn’t stop until an officer forced him to with a tactical maneuver. He also stipulated that his blood alcohol level was .26, or more than three times the legal limit.

Rothfus was ordered as part of the diversion agreement to abstain from alcohol and recreational drugs and to complete a treatment program and a DUI victim impact panel by Nov. 30 of this year, among other diversion conditions.

The duration of the diversion is 12 months. It’s subject to revocation if its terms are not complied with.