A Sumter County jury has acquitted a Villager who couldn’t blow for a breath test after his golf cart crashed into a parked car.
William Robert Teufert, 74, of the Village of Santiago, won the acquittal after a trial earlier this month. A careless driving ticket was also dismissed. He was represented by attorney Jaimie Washo Spivey.
Teufert was driving a 2007 Yamaha golf cart this past December on Palo Alto Avenue when he struck a parked 2014 Toyota RAV 4, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The Valparaiso, Ind. native initially admitted he had been texting and driving moments before the accident, which caused $12,000 in damage. However, the deputy investigating the crash suspected Teufert had been drinking. He struggled through field sobriety exercises and complained that he suffers from vertigo. He attempted to provide a breath sample, but could not physically provide an adequate test sample.
Teufert had been convicted in 2006 on a charge of reckless driving, reduced from an original charge of driving under the influence.
