A Villager who had been sipping merlot in her golf cart was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
Stacy Duroe Fitzgerald, 61, of the Village of Piedmont, was found at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in a blue Yamaha golf cart stopped in the right westbound lane of El Camino Real near the intersection of Botello Avenue, near the Village of Alhambra.
The native New Yorker was asleep and had suffered abrasions on both of her knees, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The Villages Public Safety Department was summoned to the scene and Fitzgerald told a paramedic she suffered the injury when she fell out of her golf cart.
It appeared she had been drinking and an open carton of Black Box premium merlot wine was found in the golf cart.
Fitzgerald was invited to perform field sobriety exercises, but she almost fell twice. She refused to provide a breath sample. She was taken into custody on a DUI charge. She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,000 bond.
She has two prior DUI arrests in The Villages.
She was arrested this past January after her vehicle sustained a flat tire and was blocking traffic at Buena Vista Boulevard and Parr Drive. An investigation led to the discovery of vodka bottles in her vehicle. She provided two breath samples that each measured .305 blood alcohol content. She later lost her driver’s license for six months, was placed on probation for one year and was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
A second DUI case is still pending in Lake County. In that incident in August 2022, she crashed into a small tree, a carport attached to a residence and a parked car at a home in the 800 block of Sharon Drive on the Historic Side of The Villages. Fitzgerald was “severely intoxicated” and taken to a local hospital rather than being immediately arrested. Tests later showed Fitzgerald had a blood alcohol content level of .380, which the investigator noted was nearly “toxic.” Vodka bottles had been found in her car.
