A driver came to a stop on a sidewalk near a Florida golf resort last week after, by a witness’s account, taking a detour straight across one of the courses. Deputies who responded described her as incoherent and unable to stand. They also described what they found inside her car, surprising no one.
The driver told the responding deputy she had not been drinking. But her body betrayed her, as the deputy noted the smell of alcohol on her breath, then turned to the contents of the vehicle.
What was inside, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, made the case look very different from a standard drunk-driving stop. The arrest, the refusals that followed and the charges she now faces have turned the incident into one of the more widely shared Florida traffic stories around social media.
Because believe it or not, the most striking number here wasn’t her blood-alcohol level, as she declined to provide one. It’s the inventory of Fireball whiskey bottles found inside the vehicle at the time of the incident.
What Witnesses and Deputies Described
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent to a single-vehicle crash on May 14 at about 6:54 p.m. near Streamsong Golf Resort, outside Bowling Green, Florida. When the first deputy arrived, she found a red 2018 Hyundai on a sidewalk and 34-year-old Erika Mayer of Palmetto seated near the vehicle.
Mayer was uninjured but, as the sheriff’s office pointed out, incoherent, unbalanced, and slurring her words. A witness told deputies they had watched the Hyundai being driven across portions of one of the resort’s golf courses before it eventually stopped. Mayer told the deputy she had not consumed alcohol, but the deputy reported smelling alcohol on her breath.
The Charges
Deputies said a search of the vehicle turned up an unopened 10-pack of 50-milliliter Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey bottles, 21 open 50-milliliter Fireball bottles, and two empty 50-milliliter bottles of 99 Brand liqueurs.
The sheriff’s office said Mayer refused any Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and declined to provide breath samples. Those samples would have been used to determine her blood-alcohol level. Since she passed on doing so, there was no measurable amount provided.
Mayer’s Future
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office charged Mayer three times, hitting her with a DUI, DUI with property damage, and refusing to submit to DUI testing. Though she was free to decline the test, that didn’t preclude her from breaking the law.
Deputies also issued citations for failure to drive in a single lane and for possession of an open container inside a vehicle. She was booked into jail following the investigation.