A woman so enraged at her drunk driving arrest it took three deputies to handcuff her, has been sentenced in Sumter Count Court.
Jane M. Blankenship, 53, of Ocala, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and resisting arrest March 23 near the intersection of County Road 466 and Morse Boulevard. A citizen had walked into the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Annex at the intersection and reported a Silver Jeep that had been driving erratically. The vehicle was located shortly after 9 a.m. in the parking lot at Cornerstone Hospice.
There the deputies found Blankenship who told them she was on her way to her doctor’s office. Her speech appeared to be slurred, the arrest report indicated. She was asked if she had been drinking to which she replied, “I may have had about three beers last night.”
She failed field sobriety exercises and when the deputy attempted to place handcuffs on her, she repeatedly refused to put her hands behind her back, telling the deputy, “Don’t do this, I am not a criminal.” It took three deputies to handcuff Blankenship and put her in the back of a patrol car, the arrest report indicated. She was transported to the Sumter County Detention Center where she refused to provide a breath sample.
Blankenship was sentenced May 28 to 12 months probation and will lose her driver’s license for six months on the DUI charge. The charge of resisting arrest was dismissed.
