A drunk driving suspect was found urinating in the bushes after crashing in a roundabout in The Villages.
A red 2018 Ford SUV crashed at about 6:30 p.m. Monday in the roundabout at Buena Vista Boulevard and Bailey Trail, near the Lake Miona Recreation Center, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Witnesses called 911 and provided a description of the driver who fled on foot from the crash scene. The disabled vehicle was ditched in the roundabout with one of its airbags deployed. An empty Foster’s beer can and a metal tumbler which contained an alcoholic beverage were found in the SUV.
The driver, later identified as 54-year-old Leonardo Lawrentty Benjumea Zuluaga was spotted urinating in some bushes. A deputy found that Zuluaga was “highly intoxicated” and had burn marks and abrasions on his knee consistent with airbag deployment.
The native of Colombia provided an address in the Katherine Villas in The Villages. An owner with the same Zuluaga surname sold the villa in 2021 to another couple. When Zuluaga was arrested earlier this year on a charge of driving while license suspended, he was living in an apartment in Wildwood. In 2021, he had been arrested in a drunk driving incident at Lake Sumter Landing.
Zuluaga struggled through field sobriety exercises. He provided breath samples that registered .181 and .171 blood alcohol content.
He was taken to the UF Health Emergency Clinic at Brownwood. After he was medically cleared, he was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on charges including driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while license suspended. Bond was set at $12,500,
