A mother was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence after dropping off a child at the Treadway Elementary School in Leesburg.
A concerned parent alerted the principal and school resource deputy at 9 a.m. Monday that a woman appeared to be sleeping in a running car on the school grounds.
The deputy and the principal approached the car and found 41-year-old Melissa D. Abernathy slumped over in her car which was running, according to an arrest report. When the deputy woke the woman up she started to speak very rapidly and told the deputy that she had just dropped her daughter off to school. The deputy noted in his arrest report that he had seen Abernathy come into the parking lot with her child at 7:30 that morning. School started at 8:30 a.m.
Abernathy said that she had dozed off while reading a magazine, but did not have a magazine with her. The deputy also noted that she had a slight slurring of her words. She agreed to perform standardized field sobriety exercise when the deputy told her that he suspected she was under the influence and might not be safe to drive. She did poorly on the exercises and was placed under arrest.
The deputy took her to the Lake County Jail and had her provide breath samples even though he did not detect any alcohol on her breath. She said she would provide a urine sample, but was unable to provide a sample after three attempts .
Abernathy was charged with driving under the influence with bond set at $1,000.
