A Deland man was arrested for a driving under the influence without a proper tag after his impaired behavior on the road led to suspicions of narcotic involvement.
Police responded to a possibly intoxicated driver, later identified as 46-year-old David Dwayne Johnson, near Alfred Street and Texas Avenue in Tavares at about 2:10 p.m. Thursday, according to an arrest report from the Tavares Police Department. The caller advised that a spray-painted Chevy pickup had poor driving patterns and hit curbs.
Law enforcement arrived in the area and saw the vehicle pulling out of a parking lot described by the caller. The officer followed the vehicle and observed it swaying inside the lane, touching the center line and bike path lane in the process, the report said.
A traffic stop was conducted after Johnson failed to obey a stop bar at of the intersection of St. Clair Abrams and U.S. Highway 441. He pulled into the intersection and onto the crosswalk before stopping in the Wells Fargo parking lot at 350 W. Burleigh Blvd, the report said.
The officer spoke with Johnson and ran his tag, through which he learned it did not match the attached vehicle, the report said. An additional vehicle identification number check revealed that the tag was meant for a white 2005 Chevy pickup, and the vehicle was not currently registered in Florida.
Another officer then arrived on scene and was told about Johnson’s driving patterns and signs of impairment, including slowed and slurred speech. The officers asked Johnson to exit the vehicle so they could speak with him further. He appeared slow and unsteady on his feet with a wide stance as he obeyed the order. He also had glassy eyes with extremely pin-point pupils and slurred, thick-tongued speech, the report said.
Because of this, Johnson was asked to participate in field sobriety exercises, to which he was very cooperative and agreed. However, he was unable to follow simple instructions and showed a lack of balance during the exercises. This led the officers to conclude that Johnson was under the influence of something, the report said.
As a result, the officers requested the response of a Drug Recognition Expert due to the belief of possible narcotic influence. During the investigation, Johnson suddenly appeared to be sleepy, and his eyes seemed heavier than earlier. It appeared that he was losing his “high” from the unknown substance. He admitted to snorting methamphetamine the day before but denied using any that day. Alcohol was eliminated as a possible substance when Johnson took breath tests resulting in 0.00 both times. A urine sample was taken instead, the report said.
Johnson was ultimately arrested on charges of attached tag not assigned and DUI (third offense outside of 10 years). He was transported to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $6,000 and a court date on Sept. 19.
