A Village of Fenney woman has avoided a conviction on a charge of driving under the influence, however she has been ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.
Mary Borgman, 73, who lives in the Tupelo Villas in Fenney will not be prosecuted on the DUI charge after the prosecutor’s office earlier this month announced that the evidence in the case is “legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” However, she has been ordered to seek a drug and alcohol evaluation in connection with a companion charge of resisting arrest.
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies responded at about 10:30 p.m. April 12 to the SeaBreeze Recreation Center to investigate a report of a suspicious person at the recreation center, which was closed. A deputy found a red Chevrolet SUV with its engine running in the eastern side of the parking lot.
Borgman, who was identified by her Pennsylvania driver’s license, was asked why she was at the closed recreation center. She said she was “waiting for a male subject she had met at the bar to meet her there,” according to an arrest report.
Borgman began to yell at the deputy and demanded to know why she was being harassed. The deputy “could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from her person from a conversational distance through my cloth mask.” The deputy asked Borgman to step out of the vehicle amid concerns she could not safely drive. She refused to step out of the SUV and “kept rolling the window up” while the deputy tried to talk to her.
A lieutenant with the sheriff’s office arrived on the scene and was able to convince Borgman to step out of the vehicle. She got out, but then said she was going to sleep in her vehicle. She pulled away from the deputies and ignored their commands to stop. She was handcuffed and transported to the Sumter County Detention Center where she was offered the chance to participate in field sobriety exercises. She performed the exercises with difficulty. She provided breath samples that registered .031 and .028 blood alcohol content. She also provided a urine sample upon request. However, she refused to participate in a voluntary drug evaluation.
