A union official from Massachusetts is calling her drunken arrest at a town square in The Villages “a misunderstanding.”
Sandra Marie Amburn, 73, of Pittsfield, Mass., was arrested Nov. 18 at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square after reportedly getting “aggressive” and pushing a law enforcement officer.
Amburn serves as president of the Pittsfield Federation of School Employees union in Massachusetts.
Her hometown newspaper, The Berkshires Daily Voice, followed up on a story which first appeared in Villages-News.com, detailing her arrest.
Amburn, the incumbent president for the American Federation of Teachers Local 1315, called the situation a “misunderstanding,” according to The Voice, which serves The Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, which is home to singer James Taylor and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, among other celebrities.
A Sumter County sheriff’s deputy was working the square at about 8:15 p.m. that night when a woman approached him and reported that Amburn was in the area of the stage and “was very intoxicated needed to stop drinking,” according to an arrest report. The woman pointed out Amburn, “who was standing in a crowd in front of the stage.”
The deputy found Amburn and asked her to step away from the stage. She was “visibly intoxicated and aggressive.” Amburn touched the deputy several times, even after he asked her to stop. Amburn disregarded the warning and pushed the deputy’s service belt.
Amburn was arrested on a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. She remains free on $5,000 bond.
