‘I’ve driven way drunker.’ Florida man’s excuse not one to try if cops pull you over
Scenarios like the one that unfolded along Interstate 75 in the predawn hours of Feb. 28 happen more than you might think. In an age of GPS and computer-voice-guided directions, drivers, especially ones who have been drinking, remain geographically unaware.
A Tampa, Florida, man was heading north through Forsyth at about 3 a.m. in a new Nissan Altima when a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy pulled him over for speeding. The man was said to have been going 98 mph, driving erratically.
According to an incident report, the man, 32, said he was “in a hurry to get to a meeting for work in Roswell.”
Roswell, north of Atlanta, is roughly 80 miles away, and unless the meeting was scheduled before sunrise there was no chance he would miss it. Trouble was, he had other issues.
His license was invalid “with multiple suspensions,” the deputy’s write-up noted.
Then the officer caught wind of “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” emanating from the driver, the report said. “(He) stated he had a mixed drink while on the ride from Tampa.”
The man was jailed on numerous driving charges, including DUI and possession of marijuana scales.
Dispatches: A man and a woman at a house on Juliette Road in Monroe County were reportedly arguing “about food and dishes” that were a mess. The house was said to have, as a March 7 sheriff’s report put it, “large amounts of beer cans and alcohol in and outside of the residence.” The pair were separated. . . . According to a sheriff’s report, some people in northern Monroe County said that when they pulled up to a stop sign at the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and High Falls Road on March 7 something wild happened. A guy they knew “came out of nowhere with a baseball bat and struck their passenger-side mirror,” smashing it. Someone in the car later told the cops that in the past he has “had issues” with the attacker. The car, a 2020 Nissan Altima, was a rental.