A woman who stopped for beer was jailed after her car struck a bicyclist in the Village of Fenney area.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday about a vehicle hitting a bicyclist in the vicinity of U.S. 301 and Warm Springs Avenue. A check revealed the bicyclist had been knocked to the roadway and suffered minor injuries. The bicycle sustained about $100 in damage.
Witnesses followed a vehicle driven by 34-year-old Constance Marie Perkins of Ocala as she traveled to a gas station where she purchased two cans of beer and put them into a trunk, according to an arrest report.
Perkins claimed she had not seen the bicyclist and was “unaware” she struck anyone, the report said. The passenger side of her vehicle had about $2,000 in damage.
Perkins’ eyes were “red and watery” and she “smelled strongly” of an alcoholic beverage, the report said.
She struggled through field sobriety exercises and provided breath samples that registered .156 and .145 blood alcohol content.
A check revealed that Perkins is on probation. She had been placed on probation in 2017 after ripping off an 81-year-old patient at The Villages Rehab in Lady Lake. Perkins had been working at the time as a CNA at The Villages Rehab.
She was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center, where she was being held without bond due to the probation violation.
