A Leesburg woman was charged with DUI after being stopped from going the wrong way down a one-way street in Eustis.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, a Eustis police officer observed a blue Hyundai traveling southbound on South Grove Street, which is a northbound-only street. The officer pulled the vehicle over at the intersection of Grove Street and East Ward Avenue and spoke with the driver, 34-year-old Ana Marie Semento, of 34110 S. Haines Creek Road.
Semento had a dazed and confused look on her face and had to be asked twice for her registration, which she retrieved slowly from the glove box. When told she was stopped for going the wrong way on Grove Street, she told the officer she thought she was on “the other” road, meaning Bay Street, which is a southbound-only street. Asked where she was headed, Semento said she had just dropped off her friends and later added she was coming from Fat Cats in Mount Dora, according to the police report.
Semento made little to no eye contact with the officer, who could smell alcohol on her breath every time she spoke. Asked if she had consumed any alcoholic beverages that evening, Semento said she had three drinks at Crazy Gators in Eustis about two hours earlier. She later changed her story and said she had one vodka drink and two beers about three hours earlier, the report said.
After failing a series of field sobriety exercises, Semento was placed under arrest and taken to the Eustis police station for booking. While there, Semento refused to provide a breath sample for testing, according to the report.
Semento was then taken to the Lake County Jail, where she posted $1,000 bond and was released. She’s scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on July 27.
