A Leesburg woman admitted she was drunk when she was pulled over for driving erratically in Tavares on Sunday afternoon.
At around 2:30 p.m., a Tavares police officer responded to a report of a dark gray Volkswagen SUV that had been swerving all over Old U.S. Highway 441 between Mount Dora and Tavares. The caller said when they approached Disston Avenue heading west, the SUV continued straight and was heading in the wrong direction. The vehicle eventually corrected itself and then cut in front of the caller’s vehicle, according to the police report.
The officer was stopped at the intersection of North Duncan Drive and Lake Shore Boulevard when he saw the SUV stop at the intersection on Gateway Drive. The vehicle crossed the intersection onto Lake Shore Boulevard and the officer was able to get behind the caller and the SUV, the report said.
The officer immediately saw the SUV drift out of its assigned lane onto the right shoulder, where it made a sudden maneuver to correct itself. The officer got directly behind the SUV and they turned onto West Burleigh Boulevard heading towards Leesburg. The SUV drifted out of its lane two more times before the officer conducted a traffic stop in front of Salsa restaurant, according to the report.
The officer then spoke with the driver – India Elayne Dillion, 43, of 34041 Valencia Drive in Leesburg. When the officer told Dillion he stopped her because she was driving erratically, she openly admitted it was because she was drunk. While speaking with Dillion, the officer could detect the odor of alcohol on her breath that became more apparent the longer she spoke, the report said.
After failing a series of field sobriety exercises, Dillion was placed under arrest and taken to the Lake County Jail, where she provided breath samples that were more than three times the legal limit, according to the report.
Dillion was charged with DUI (BAC over 0.15) and given a written warning for failure to maintain her proper lane. She was released Sunday evening on $1,000 bond and is due in Lake County Court on Aug. 17.
