ATTLEBORO - A 44-year-old North Attleboro man is facing his 10th drunken driving charge.

Michael W. Coates, of 255 Elm St. in North Attleboro, was ordered held in jail without bail after pleading innocent in Attleboro District Court.

He was recently released from prison where he served a 4- to 5-year term for drunken driving, according to police.

Records show Coates was convicted in 2002 in Essex County Superior Court, according to police. His first arrest was in 1982.

A dangerousness hearing was scheduled Monday during which prosecutors will ask a judge to hold Coates in jail without bail pending trial or for up to 90 days. Coates took a breath-alcohol test which allegedly registered 0.20 percent, or more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent at which a person is considered intoxicated.

Coates was arrested about 2:40 p.m. Thursday by Patrolman Kevin Noble, who was dispatched to a call about an intoxicated man who was driving with an open can of beer, according to police.

An employee working at the loading dock of The Sun Chronicle called police after he gave a man directions to Sturdy Memorial Hospital, police said. Noble drove past The Sun Chronicle offices on South Main Street and up Park Street before he spotted a car in the parking lot of the hospital off Park Street, according to police.