A snowbird attempted to use her underwire bra to try to escape from jail after her arrest on a drunk driving charge.
Susan Mae Sheppard, 59, who is staying at 2274 Queen Palm Place in the Village of Buttonwood, was driving a red Lincoln SUV when she was involved in an accident at about 7 p.m. Saturday at Walgreens on County Road 466, across from Southern Trace Plaza in The Villages, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
It appeared that Sheppard, a native of Keene, N.H. who was driving on a Massachusetts license, had been drinking. She initially agreed to participate in field sobriety exercises, but refused to continue once she had trouble performing the exercises. Her breath sample measured .000 blood alcohol content. She consented to a urine sample. She was transported to the Sumter County Detention Center where she was booked on a charge of driving under the influence.
Sheppard was placed in a holding cell, but a jailer discovered that she had “removed the metal wiring from her bra” and used it to make “numerous scrape marks” on the glass on the bottom of the holding cell door. She attempted to crawl out of a small opening in the holding cell door “feet first,” the arrest report said. She had to be told to “pull her legs back into the cell.”
In addition to the DUI charge, she is facing a felony charge of attempted escape and a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief with damage to property. She was released after posting $11,500 bond.
