There are subtle ways to tell a deputy you have been drinking, and then there is apparently handing over the entire plot before the DUI investigation really gets going. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says 76-year-old Charles Ducking admitted his license was suspended for DUI, acknowledged he had been drinking, and then showed a deputy the cup of rum he said he was drinking.
A deputy stopped Ducking’s Jeep in Waverly on September 17 after seeing it swerving while traveling south on U.S. Highway 27, according to the sheriff’s office. A check of the vehicle’s registered owner also showed a suspended driver’s license connected to previous DUI arrests.
When the deputy approached, he noticed an odor of alcohol along with Ducking’s slurred speech and watery eyes. Asked for his license, Ducking responded, “Well, I can’t show you my driver’s license cuz it’s suspended cuz DUI. And I have been drinking a little bit right now.”
Ducking then showed the deputy a silver thermal cup containing a brown liquid and identified it as the rum he was drinking, according to the sheriff’s office. Another traffic deputy arrived to conduct the DUI investigation and immediately recognized Ducking from a previous DUI arrest just four months earlier.
Deputy Recognizes Ducking From May DUI Arrest
Embedded media follows; please give it a moment to load completely.
During a search of Ducking’s Jeep, deputies say they discovered cocaine inside a small orange container. Ducking then told them he had “done a line” of cocaine approximately 10 minutes earlier, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies say Ducking displayed several indicators of impairment while completing field sobriety tests before providing breath samples measuring .094 and .095. The sheriff’s office noted that .08 or higher is considered legally impaired.
The traffic deputy’s recognition of Ducking stemmed from a May 22 arrest in Lake Wales, when the sheriff’s office says his breath-alcohol readings were .106 and .102. Polk County jail records independently confirm Ducking was booked that day on a misdemeanor DUI charge and released May 25 after $250 bail was paid.
Jail Records Show DUI Charge Dating Back to 2001
That May arrest is far from Ducking’s first appearance in Polk County’s jail records, which show 10 separate bookings associated with his name and January 18, 1950 date of birth since 2001. His earliest listed booking came on September 9, 2001, when the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested him on a charge described in the jail record as second-offense DUI involving alcohol or drugs.
Ducking returned to the county jail in December 2001 and July 2002 on charges of driving with a suspended license, according to the records. A December 2003 booking lists charges of driving with a suspended license, possession of cocaine, and possession or use of narcotic equipment, while a January 2004 booking lists possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, drug paraphernalia, and second-offense driving with a suspended license.
The records continue with July and November 2007 bookings for driving with a suspended license as a habitual offender, followed by a 2016 booking on a felony battery charge and a 2024 booking for battery by touching or striking. Those records establish the charges for which Ducking was booked, but the information reviewed here does not establish that he was ultimately convicted of each offense.
Sheriff’s Office Points To Additional DUI History
The September 2001 record is particularly notable because it describes the charge as a second DUI offense, meaning the booking history supplied by Polk County references an earlier DUI before the online records reviewed for this story begin. The current sheriff’s office release separately states that Ducking has nine other Polk County arrests dating to 2001 and identifies that 2001 arrest as DUI.
The sheriff’s office also says Ducking was arrested for DUI in Gadsden County in 2016, which is separate from the June 2016 Polk County booking shown in the records reviewed for this story. That Polk County entry lists felony battery rather than DUI, so the two 2016 incidents should not be treated as the same arrest.
Sheriff Grady Judd acknowledged Ducking’s cooperation during the latest traffic stop but sharply criticized the conduct deputies described, saying Ducking was fortunate he had not killed himself or someone else while driving. Judd said Ducking had “tempted fate too many times” and needed to make serious changes before it was too late.
Ducking Faces Felony DUI and Cocaine Charges
Following the September 17 traffic stop, Ducking was booked into the Polk County Jail on charges of fourth or subsequent DUI and possession of cocaine, both listed by the sheriff’s office as third-degree felonies. He was also charged with misdemeanor driving with a suspended license and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The latest charges bear some similarities to entries in Ducking’s older booking history, including the 2003 record containing cocaine and suspended-license charges. That comparison concerns only the charges recorded during those bookings, however, and does not establish the final disposition of the older criminal cases.
Ducking’s newest case now follows a Polk County booking history stretching back 25 years and a DUI arrest just four months earlier. The September charges remain pending, and neither an arrest nor a jail booking should be treated as a conviction without corresponding court records establishing the outcome.