A Summerfield man was jailed Saturday after a Marion County sheriff’s deputy watched his vehicle travel onto grass next to a roadway and almost slam into a stop sign.
The deputy followed the white sedan, which was traveling at a slow rate of speed. She watched it cross the dotted yellow line into oncoming traffic twice, slow down and speed up and almost run off the roadway several times. The deputy then stopped the vehicle, driven by 33-year-old Rufus James Sherrill, on S.W. 27th Avenue, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy reported smelling a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage and noted that Sherrill had bloodshot, glossy eyes and slowed speech. Sherrill told the deputy he was coming from the Nowhere Bar in Ocala and had consumed three or four Yuengling beers. The deputy then asked Sherill to participate in field sobriety exercises, which he agreed to do, the report says.
Sherrill failed all four exercises and was placed under arrest. He was transported to the Marion County Jail, where he refused to provide breath samples or answer further questions.
Sherrill, who lives in the 17600 block of S. Hwy. 475 in Summerfield, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He also is facing charges of violating his probation on previous charges of possession of heroin from St. Johns County, trafficking stolen property and from Dixie County, and trafficking in stolen property from Taylor County. He’s being held on $2,000 bond on the new charge and no bond on the old charges and is due in court July 1 at 9 a.m., jail records show.
