On January 17, 2016, a Pinellas County Deputy observed a suspicious vehicle parked in the parking lot of Countryside Mall. The white Jeep was stopped halfway in the parking space and halfway in the bushes. The vehicle was not parked normally so the Deputy positioned his car behind the vehicle. The Driver was asleep in the driver seat of the vehicle with the keys in the ignition. The ignition was off and lights on. The Deputy attempted to wake the driver by banging several times on the front window. When the driver did not respond, the Deputy attempted to yell through a crack in the window as he continued to bang on the window threatening to break it. The driver then woke up and the Deputy instructed him to exit the vehicle.
A DUI investigator was called to the scene. He observed the driver to have bloodshot eyes, and a distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. The DUI investigator requested the driver to complete field sobriety exercises to which the driver agreed. The driver performed poorly on the exercises was arrested for DUI. The driver then provided a breath sample of .160 and .159.
Results: The firm provided an information packet to the prosecutors dealing with the initial contact by the Deputy and the breath test results. Based on the review of these documents and information, the State dropped the DUI charge.