A Villager who scolded a police officer when she was arrested on a drunk driving charge has been ordered to stay away from booze.
Ann Marie Civetti, 74, of the Village of Collier, pleaded no contest this past week in Lake County Court to a charge of driving under the influence. She will lose her driver’s license for six months, has been placed on probation for a year and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. In addition, she must attend DUI school, must seek a substance abuse evaluation and may not possess or consume alcohol.
Civetti was driving a white Honda SUV at about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 6 on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 when she ran a red light, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
An officer who initiated a traffic stop, found that Civetti’s eyes “were glassy and bloodshot.”
The officer asked questions of the Vermont native, but kept getting the same response.
“There are way much worse things going on in the world than me right now,” she said.
She participated in field sobriety exercises, but the one-legged stand exercise had to be halted due to fears for her safety after she nearly fell backward. She did not provide an adequate breath sample. The officer explained the consequences of not providing a breath sample, but Civetti said she would “have her attorney figure it out.”
During the trip to the Lake County Jail, Civetti kept repeating that “what she did was not bad and there were many other real criminals in the world that needed to be handcuffed,” the report said.
