A lawyer for a Villager is questioning the actions of a police officer who arrested her client on a drunk driving charge.
Attorney Jaimie Washo Spivey has filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case of 55-year-old James Edwards of the Village of Rio Grande.
He was arrested at about 1 a.m. Feb. 11 at the Circle K at 3 La Grande Blvd. on the Historic Side of The Villages. A Lady Lake police officer approached Edwards’ black Nissan Altima. An open container of Smirnoff Ice Smash Screwdriver was found in the cupholder of the center console of the vehicle. The can was cold to the touch and about one-third of the contents had been consumed, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. He refused to participate in field sobriety exercises, but he provided breath samples. They registered .103 and .109 blood alcohol content. The Connecticut native was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence and cited for the open container violation.
Edwards’ lawyer filed a motion in Lake County Court asking that the evidence in the case be suppressed.
Washo Spivey argues that the officer was not conducting a traffic stop when he parked his squad car directly behind
Edwards’ vehicle.
“The officer’s action of blocking the Defendant’s ability to leave was not based on any reasonable suspicion of criminal activity nor any probable cause to arrest the Defendant as the Officer had no indication that a criminal act had taken place at that time. The Defendant should have been free to leave and not blocked in by the Officer’s patrol car. The
detention of the Defendant was an illegal seizure of the Defendant. Consequently, all of the aforesaid searches, seizures and the arrest of the Defendant took place without the benefit of a search warrant and/or arrest warrant,” she wrote in the motion.