The woman responsible for causing a fatal crash on Tampa’s Crosstown Expressway pled guilty to DUI manslaughter charges Wednesday and will now await her DUI sentence, which will be handed down October 27. Cheryl Riemann has now admitted to killing Jennifer O’Boyle and seriously injuring then-4-year-old Summer Moll. The young girl has spent most of the last two years since the crash undergoing surgeries and treatment for her injuries.

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Ronald Judson Smith received a DUI sentence of 30 years for causing the death of a 7-year old girl in a drunk driving accident that took place in 2009. The Port Charlotte man was sentenced Tuesday following a denial for a new trial. Smith was convicted in April of seven charges including driving on a suspended license from a previous DUI.
Smith was accused of being drunk when he ran a red light on Toledo Blade Blvd. and State Road 776. He slammed his truck into a Ford Mustang carrying a father and his two daughters. Sarah-Dian Heineman, her father Rick Heineman and her sister Madison were all hospitalized following the crash. Sarah died ten days later.
Smith was seen throwing beer cans from his truck the night of the fatal accident and investigators also found prescription painkillers near the scene of the accident as well. His blood test results showed traces of marijuana, Xanax and oxycodone at the time of the accident. Smith blamed the brakes on his pick-up truck for being the culprit in his accident but a jury didn’t seem to buy his reasoning considering the guilty verdict.
Smith and his Florida DUI lawyer tried to get the judge to throw out the conviction and grant the man a new trial. They claimed Smith was detained with excessive force and that officers didn’t fully report details about an odor of alcohol on Smith. That request for a new trial was denied on Monday.
On top of the 30 year DUI prison sentence the judge handed down, Smith also received a lifetime license revocation. Smith is 25-years old and his DUI penalties could keep him in jail until he is in his fifties.

A 19-year-old girl in Okaloosa County was arrested for popping open a Steel Reserve beer in the back of an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s cruiser. The teenager was getting a ride to her Fort Walton Beach home after her friend was arrested for a DUI when she decided she wasn’t done drinking for the night.
According to a report on the website TheSmokingGun.com, Tasha Lee Cantrell was the passenger in the car belonging to the person arrested for drunk driving. While her friend’s car was being impounded, Cantrell asked Sheriff’s Deputy Mitchell Landis for a ride home. He agreed. During the trip to her Fort Walton home he heard the teen open a can and then saw her drinking from it. He investigated and found that the can was Steel Reserve and then headed to the sheriff’s office to charge the girl with underage drinking.

Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright was suspended two games earlier this month after he was arrested for DUI in Miami. He also was driving with a suspended license. Now there is more bad press for the NBA player as a nude photo of him has surfaced on the Internet and been forwarded around via Twitter.
Wright issued an apology through the team saying the photo came from a private Internet chat where someone apparently captured the image from the screen. The person who circulated the photo apparently put it out for public consumption after Wright’s girlfriend commented about how great she thought the father of her child is. According to the Miami Herald Wright is the third NBA player to have nude photos surface on the Internet.

According to mysuncoast.com, a 19-year-old Lee County driver has been charged with drunk driving following an incident in Bonita Springs in which he allegedly rear-ended a bus at a railroad crossing. Lee County Sheriffs report Corey David Craft not only ran into the back of the bus he continued to accelerate until he wedged his car under the back of the bus.
Deputies arrived on the scene and started to give Craft field sobriety tests before determining the teen was unable to stand and stopping those exercises. He was then given a breath test but according to the report on mysuncoastnews.com the results were negligible. Craft then agreed to a urinalysis after a drug recognition expert was called to start a DUI drug investigation.

Jesse Perez didn’t remember much of his drive on U.S. 19 early Thursday morning according to police reports. The 50-year-old apparently had no recollection that he almost hit a police car or hit the median a couple times. There seems to be a good reason for that according to police and a woman who was in the car with Perez. The witness claims Perez was driving drunk and he was on Xanax.
Perez denied the accusations but did admit to having a few beers and mixed drinks. He said he had no idea who owned the Xanax and marijuana police found after searching the car. The officers arresting him didn’t seem to buy that story and charged Perez with DUI, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. He was booked into Land O’ Lakes Jail on $4,300 bail.

Dwight Gooden has had his share off run-ins with the law. The former NY Mets pitcher has been arrested in Tampa four times including two Tampa DUI charges. He is now facing DUI drug charges in New Jersey following a car crash Tuesday. The Tampa native has tested positive for cocaine twice while in the Major Leagues and he was almost sent to prison in 2006 for a probation violation.
The Tampa native was released from jail on his own recognizance despite the DUI charges. Gooden was also charged with traffic violations, endangering a child and leaving the scene of an accident. There was a child in his vehicle at the time of the crash. The article on TBO.com mentions that it is not known if Gooden has a criminal defense attorney representing him on these charges.

Two professional athletes with ties to the state of Florida were charged with driving under the influence this past weekend. Miami Dolphin running back Ronnie Brown and a Baltimore Oriole pitcher in Sarasota, FL for spring training have both been charged with DUI. Brown received his drunk driving charges in Georgia according to the Miami Herald while Baltimore pitcher Eric DuBose was cited for a DUI in Sarasota.
According to newspaper reports, the two professional athletes received their DUI citations to bookend the past weekend. Brown was charged Friday night in Cartersville, GA. He was pulled over for an illegal lane change and then performed poorly on a field sobriety test. DuBose was arrested in Sarasota early Monday morning. He was pulled over after swerving into oncoming traffic and then almost rear-ending a car.

Last week we reported in our blog that the Ocoee Police Department and numerous other agencies including the Orlando Police Department and Orange County Sheriff’s office would be conducting a DUI checkpoint over the weekend. It seems not everyone was reading our blog. Twenty people were arrested on charges of DUI, 10 others were arrested on other charges and numerous Florida traffic tickets were handed out as well.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that one man tried to escape the checkpoint by accelerating and attempting to get on Florida’s Turnpike before crashing. The man abandoned his car and tried to escape on foot. He was caught and arrested after officers found three pounds of marijuana in his car. There were nearly 150 people working the checkpoint including MADD volunteers.

Not only was Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright driving with a suspended license but he was allegedly doing it while drunk. Wright was arrested early Thursday morning by Miami Beach police and charged with DUI according to the Miami Herald. Wright was pulled over on Alton road for speeding.
According to the Herald report, Wright refused field sobriety tests and knew he was driving with a suspended license. The officer reported that Wright showed all the signs police usually site in DUI arrests. He wrote that the Heat forward had slurred speech, smelled of alcohol and red eyes.