A Missouri police officer says the man who piloted the air balloon that crashed in Texas was arrested in 2000 on a felony driving while intoxicated charge and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in 2002.
Officers arrested Alfred G. Nichols in Missouri where he lived before moving to Texas. The officer says that based on photographs he is confident the man arrested then is the pilot in the Texas crash on Saturday that killed 16 people. Nichols was known as "Skip" in both places and owned a hot air balloon touring company in St. Louis County at the time.
The officer spoke to The Associated Press on condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in 2008 that the Better Business Bureau had warned consumers about doing business with Nichols, the third time since 2000 that Nichols had gotten an unsatisfactory record for not responding to complaints. The paper quoted the BBB as saying Nichols was on probation in Missouri for distribution, delivery or manufacturing a controlled substance and that when asked to respond, Nichols said, "I prefer to make no comment on that."
