A Villager was arrested on New Year’s Eve after his SUV hit three golf carts parked at Brownwood.
Wildwood police were called at 8:49 p.m. Friday to the parking lot behind Dunkin’ Donuts at Brownwood Paddock Square to investigate a crash in which a vehicle “struck multiple golf carts.”
A witness pointed officers toward 79-year-old John Paul Toupin of the Village of LaBelle North who had been driving the gray GMC sport utility vehicle which had caused the crash, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. Toupin immediately admitted he’d “drank too much.”
He indicated he put the SUV in “drive” rather than “reverse” and struck a parked golf cart, pushing it into another parked golf cart. A third golf cart had been involved, but the golf cart was driven from the scene before police arrived.
Toupin was transported by ambulance to the UF Health-The Villages Hospital freestanding Emergency Room at Brownwood for a medical evaluation. Once cleared, he was asked to participate in field sobriety exercises. The report indicate he performed poorly in the exercises. He provided breath samples that registered .107 and .108 blood alcohol content.
Toupin was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $100 bond.