The following is told from the perspective of the responding officer. All information is from the corresponding police affidavit.
“On Sunday, February 17th, 2019 at approximately 12:02 a.m. while working a county-wide DUI task force hosted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office DUI squad, I observed a white in color Dodge 2 door stopped on E. McDonald Ave just west of Kensington Street in Eustis, FL.”
“The vehicle was stopped in the roadway causing another vehicle to drive around it over a double yellow line. The vehicle then accelerated when I stopped behind it, traveling west on McDonald Ave. The vehicles traveled in unison west on McDonald Ave before turning south on N. Center St.”
“Both vehicles then stopped within the roadway again, and the driver of the first vehicle exited and began walking toward the vehicle directly in front of me. I exited my patrol car to inquire if everything was okay with the driver of the vehicle that had initially stopped on McDonald Ave. The vehicle I made contact with was a White Dodge Challenger. The driver, later identified by his Florida DL as Reginald Cox II.”
“Speaking with Reginald initially about his improper stop/stand/park violation, I detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverages emitting from Reginald’s mouth. Reginald had heavily slurred speech and glassy, bloodshot, and watery eyes. Reginald also appeared relaxed and had droopy eyelids. I recognized that Reginald was intoxicated by what I believed, based on my training and experience, to be alcoholic beverages.”
“I activated my dash camera and recorded the encounter on video/audio for the duration of the stop. I briefly spoke with Reginald and requested he submit to field sobriety exercises. Reginald complied and he was walked to a level smooth blacktop parking lot.”
“I positioned my patrol vehicle in the parking lot to record the exercises. I deemed Reginald to be heavily impaired and unable to safely operate a motor vehicle based on my observations of his performance on the SFSE’s. Subsequently, I placed Reginald under arrest for the aforementioned charge.”
“M/D Pitcher #1437 was on scene during the SFSE’s and requested a sample of Reginald’s breath in order to determine the alcoholic content of his breath. Reginald changed his tone and began demanding phone calls and to talk to his lawyer. It was explained that he did not need to do that at the time and he ultimately became uncooperative and belligerent and refused to provide a breath sample.”
“Implied consent was read to him as he attempted to speak over M/D Pitcher. A refusal form was completed as Reginald was uncooperative and refused a breath sample. Reginald was transported to Lake County Jail without incident. He was then issued a DUI citation and a civil citation for the traffic infraction.”
“Reginald ultimately signed the citations, however, wrote “COLD” as his signature on one of them because he was cold in the jail cell. He was advised of his Miranda Warning and advised he would not speak with me until a lawyer was present. No further conversation occurred between Reginald and me. It should be noted that during this investigation, I was operating under mutual aid with LCSO and CPD on the DUI task force.”
“Nothing further to report at this time.”
Comments