A villager was detained at the hospital for drunk driving after crashing her golf cart and injuring her leg.
Brenda Bond Quackenbush, 70, of the Village of Liberty Park, was involved in a golf cart accident on the golf cart path near Buena Vista Boulevard and Stillwater Trail around 9:30 p.m. Friday.
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene said that Quackenbush had bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech, and a strong odor of alcohol on her breath. According to an arrest complaint, she claimed deputies were on her way home from Lake Sumter Landing but gave a different path than she actually went. She also claimed her headlights were on, but a deputy discovered the golf cart’s lights were turned off. Quackenbush acknowledged having two glasses of wine with dinner.
She had a laceration in her left thigh that needed to be sutured and was taken to UF Health Spanish Plaines Hospital.
A deputy accompanied the ambulance to the hospital, where she volunteered to perform sitting field sobriety tests from her hospital bed. Quackenbush struggled through the tests, smacking her finger against her nose during the finger-to-nose test, failing to follow hand-coordination instructions, and singing a section of the alphabet. Quackenbush informed officers that she takes the antidepressant Lexapro and had taken a 20 mg dose that morning, which law enforcement observed might exacerbate impairment when combined with alcohol.
She later submitted breath samples with 0.126 and 0.123 blood alcohol concentrations. Hospital nurses also collected a blood sample for future examination.
Quackenbush was arrested on a misdemeanor allegation of driving under the influence resulting in property damage or personal harm. She was booked into Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting a $500 bond.
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