A Summerfield woman was arrested Monday after she was found passed out in her vehicle at an intersection.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy received reports of a reckless driver and then came across a gold GMC SUV that was running and parked at the intersection of SE Hwy. 42 and S U.S. 301 in front of the stop bar. He detected a strong odor of alcohol and then conducted a wellness check on the driver, later identified as 39-year-old Michelle Naomi Powers, who was passed out in the driver’s seat with the vehicle still running and in gear, a sheriff’s office report states.
While attempting to wake up Powers, the deputy observed several bottles of empty alcohol in the SUV, including a half-empty bottle of vodka on the passenger-side floorboard and another half-empty bottle on the rear passenger seat. Another deputy responded to the scene and they eventually were able to wake up Powers. She then told them to “get out” of her vehicle, and she also refused to get out of the driver’s seat after being told to do so multiple times, the report says.
The deputies were forced to take Powers out of her SUV and because of the strong odor of alcohol and her unwillingness to cooperate, she was placed under arrest, the report says.
Deputies searched Powers’ SUV and found three empty 100 milliliter bottles of 99 Peaches on the passenger-side floorboard, the rear drivers-side seat and in the trunk area. They also located an empty can of Busch Light beer under the passenger seat and a blue tumbler cup in the center console with the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from it, the report says.
Deputies then moved Powers’ vehicle from the roadway and discovered that a mailbox was stuck under it. They weren’t able to identify where the mailbox came from or how long it had been under the SUV.
Powers, who lives in the 13800 block of SE 44th Avenue in Summerfield, was transported to the Marion County Jail, where she refused to participate in field sobriety exercises. A records search showed that her driver’s license had been suspended on Nov. 14, 2006 for refusing to submit to a breath test to determine her blood alcohol content, the report says.
Powers was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (third violation in more than 10 years) and refusal to submit to a DUI test after license suspended. She was released late Monday afternoon on $6,000 bond and her next court date hasn’t yet been set.
Powers is no stranger to the Marion County legal system, having been held in the jail seven times since March 2001. During those arrests, she’s faced charges related to DUI arrests, battery on a law enforcement officer, leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, violating probation, possession of marijuana more than 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.