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The Villages
Friday, March 29, 2024

N.C. woman staying in Chitty Chatty enters plea after intoxicated outburst at Lighthouse

Kara Lynne Johnson
Kara Lynne Johnson

A North Carolina woman who has been staying in the Village of Chitty Chatty has entered a plea after an intoxicated outburst in March at the Lighthouse Bar & Grill.

Kara Lynne Johnson, 44, of Raleigh, N.C. pleaded not guilty last week in Sumter County Court to a charge of driving under the influence. She is being represented by the public defender’s office. Johnson remains free on bond which was posted by a woman who lives in the Village of Chitty Chatty, with whom Johnson has been staying. Communication from the court is apparently to be mailed to that woman’s home on Sumner Loop in the Village of Chitty Chatty.

Prior to her March 16 arrest, Johnson was behaving in a “highly intoxicated” manner, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A child who was with her was running “unsupervised” into the street at Lake Sumter Landing. Johnson grabbed and snatched at one of the bystanders and fell to the boardwalk. She remained there “passed out,” according to the arrest report. When she woke up, she “staggered” to her black 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan with Ohio license plates and attempted to drive away. The bystanders told her she was in no condition to drive and acted as human shields in the parking lot, preventing her from leaving.

When the first deputy arrived on the scene, he found Johnson “slumped” behind the wheel and the child seated in a child’s seat in the vehicle. He knocked on the window several times without a response. When Johnson woke up, she was belligerent and began cursing at him. She stood up on the step rail of her vehicle to tower over the deputy, who continued to try to get her to calm down. She slapped the deputy on his chest and kicked him.

The deputy handcuffed Johnson and put her in the back of his patrol vehicle. He had to put a hobble restraint device on her ankles to prevent her from kicking. When she arrived at the Sumter County Detention Center, Johnson continued to fight with detention deputies. She refused to provide a breath sample.

She is due back in court on June 14.

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