A South Carolina man was arrested on a drunk driving charge after being stopped with an empty bottle of vodka beside him at UF Health Spanish Plaines Hospital.
A deputy responded to the hospital in The Villages as backup for help with a reckless driver at 10 a.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Upon arrival, he found 62-year-old James Daniel Pierce sitting in a green Honda sedan in the south parking lot of the ER with two deputies.
The keys to the vehicle were still in the ignition, which was on and running. As for Pierce, he had glossy eyes, pinpoint pupils, delayed speech and the smell of alcohol on his breath. Beside him on the passenger floorboard laid an empty bottle of Pink Whitney, a 30 percent alcohol by volume drink, the report said.
Pierce told the deputies that he had no alcohol to drink that day but had “two glasses of wine last night.” The odor of alcohol became even stronger as he explained this, leading a deputy to ask if he would participate in field sobriety exercises. He agreed and swayed back and forth when he got out to stand. He also had difficulty keeping his balance, instead propping himself upright against the hood of a patrol vehicle with his right hand, the report said.
During the exercises, he needed instructions to be repeated several times. Even then he could not do any of them without making mistakes. His performance led the deputies to conclude he was under the influence. He later provided breath samples of 0.266 and 0.251, the report said.
A subsequent check of his driving history revealed he had prior DUI convictions out of Columbia, South Carolina, on Nov. 13, 1986, and Sept. 17, 1993, as well as Inrma, South Carolina, on Nov. 5, 2008, and Aug. 12, 2009, the report said.
Pierce was arrested on charges of DUI and transported to the Sumter County Detention Center where he was initially held without bond.