A Villager crashed his Tesla in a roundabout and attempted to blame a fictional girl he claimed to have met at Brownwood.
The dispatch center at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office received an Apple automated message at 9:46 p.m. Tuesday indicating that a silver Tesla had been involved in a crash in the roundabout on Meggison Road at the Village of Hawkins.
A Wildwood police officer went to investigate the crash and found a witness who described a man who fled the scene on foot after requesting that the witness not call law enforcement. The witness said the man fled into the Village of Hawkins.
The officer soon found 63-year-old Geoffrey Treadwell, of the Village of Hawkins, who matched the description provided by the witness. When the officer asked about the crash, Treadwell immediately began to blame his “girlfriend,” claiming she had been behind the wheel. He said he wasn’t sure where she had gone.
“She was driving, but she took off,” Treadwell told the officer.
He described her as, “A girl I met in Brownwood.” He said her name was “Stacey.”
It appeared Treadwell had been drinking. He had suffered lacerations on both his legs.
The officer took Treadwell back to the crash scene, where they saw that the vehicle’s driver side airbag had deployed and the vehicle had sustained extensive damage to the doors and locking system. It did not appear that the passenger door had been opened. The officer concluded there had been no front seat passenger.
There was also extensive damage to the roundabout, including the one-way signs and the road.
Treadwell refused to provide a breath sample.
Treadwell was transported to the UF Health Emergency Room Clinic at Brownwood for an evaluation. Once he was medically cleared he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and hit and run.
The Michigan native was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,150 bond.