A Maryland drunk driving suspect lashed out a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy and called him a “cracker” when she was arrested in The Villages.
Keisha Denice Morris, 46, of Gwynn Oak, Md., was driving a blue Nissan Altima at about 5:15 p.m. Saturday heading south on Morse Boulevard at County Road 466 when she ran a red light and nearly hit a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy’s squad car which was northbound on Morse Boulevard and turning left onto County Road 466 with the green arrow, according to an arrest report from the sheriff’s office. The deputy had to “drastically apply her brakes to prevent colliding” with Morris’ vehicle. The deputy initiated a traffic stop and immediately noticed that Morris “had an obvious odor of an alcoholic beverage.” The deputy spotted an orange Smirnoff Peach Lemonade drink in the center console and called in a second deputy to conduct a DUI investigation.
Morris told the second deputy she “only had one beer.” She struggled through field sobriety exercises and incorrectly recited the alphabet. A second unopened Smirnoff beverage was found in Morris’ vehicle. She provided breath samples that registered .229 and .238 blood alcohol content.
During the trip to the Sumter County Detention Center, Morris “became verbally aggressive and began making racial comments” toward the arresting deputy, the report said. Morris called the deputy a “cracker.”
In addition to the charge of driving under the influence, Morris was ticketed on charges of failure to stop at a steady signal, open container, expired tag and no proof of insurance. She was booked at the jail on $1,000 bond.
