A 36-year-old Summerfield man was jailed on multiple charges early Thursday morning after a Marion County sheriff’s deputy saw him run through a stoplight on a minibike.
The deputy noted that the 105cc Coleman minibike, driven by Joel Manuel Irizarry-Plaza, went through the red light at the busy intersection of S.E. 47th Avenue and S.E. Hwy. 484 and weaved several times. The deputy attempted a traffic stop in the 13600 block of S.E. 47th Avenue and Irizarry-Plaza eventually stopped in the 4600 block of S.E. 137th Place, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy spoke with Irizarry-Plaza, who provided his Florida identification card and said he didn’t have a driver’s license. The deputy reported smelling the odor of an intoxicating beverage emitted from Irizarry-Plaza, who had bloodshot, watery eyes and slurred speech. He told the deputy that he was coming from a friend’s house, where he had consumed a “few” beers, the report says.
After struggling through field-sobriety exercises, Irizarry-Plaza was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he provided breath samples showing .155 and .142 blood-alcohol content. A criminal background check also showed that Irizarry-Plaza had been convicted of DUI with property damage in January 2017 and DUI in September 2006. His license also had been suspended or revoked four times since January 2017, the report says.
Irizarry-Plaza, who lives in the 14300 block of S.E. 43rd Terrace in Summerfield, was charged with driving with a suspended or revoked license and driving under the influence (.15 or higher). He was being held on $15,000 bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.