KEY LARGO, Fla. – A 54-year-old Key Largo girl blamed her Yorkshire terrier when deputies pulled her over for a visitors violation Wednesday evening, however she was really drunk, in keeping with a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
However, Michele Lee Burke’s driving on the Overseas Highway wasn’t what earned her a felony cost, deputies mentioned.
An MCSO sergeant was backing up one other deputy on a visitors cease at mile marker 104 simply after 10 p.m. when Burke drove by, failing to maneuver over into the left lane or decelerate for the deputies on the shoulder as required by regulation, the report states.
That sergeant broke off the visitors cease and flipped on her lights and siren in an try to tug over Burke, who turned on her proper blinker however failed to right away pull over and turned onto Avenue B, the place she finally got here to a cease, in keeping with the report.
Burke, whose Yorkie was sitting on her lap, blamed the canine for her driving and had a “strong odor” of alcohol as she struggled to search out her registration and proof of insurance coverage, deputies mentioned.
The sergeant “was able to tell the driver only had one eye and her left eye appeared watery,” the report states.
After Burke claimed she solely had one drink that evening, the sergeant put her by a discipline sobriety take a look at, deputies mentioned.
The sergeant “asked her if she suffered from any illnesses, and she said, ‘yes, one eye’ and began to laugh,” the report states. Deputies wrote that Burke was then requested if she was at the moment injured, “which she said ‘no,’ and when asked about physical defects, she said, ‘My mom, my brother.’”
Burke handed an preliminary tried eye take a look at however refused to cooperate on different makes an attempt, the report states. Deputy Mario Marin then arrived to conduct a walk-and-turn train.
“Michele began laughing as I explained the instructions. I advised Michele it was a serious matter. Michele continued to laugh and stated she knew how to perform the exercise because she had seen it on Facebook,” he wrote within the report. “While demonstrating the walking phase of the exercise, Michele told me to ‘f— off.’”
He wrote that after he requested Burke “to please cooperate with us to complete the exercises,” she walked away and mentioned “I don’t care” and “I’m going to check on my dog.”
Deputies then tried to arrest her, however she turned “hostile” and cursed at them, tensed up and grabbed a deputy’s finger, the report states.
After deputies cuffed her and positioned her within the cruiser, Burke requested the place her canine was going and deputies advised her animal management was going to come back and choose the canine up, the report states.
“At that point, Michele became aggressive and informed me she wanted to punch Sergeant Davis in the throat,” Marin wrote. “Sgt. Davis tried explaining the dog would be returned to her but she continued screaming. Michele tilted her body onto her stomach, releasing herself from her seatbelt (restraint), and started kicking at me. I demanded Michele to stop her violent onslaught, to which she disobeyed and kicked my stomach multiple times.”
Burke then kicked the opposite deputy within the abdomen a number of instances as each tried to position her in a restraint, the report states.
Eventually, after she calmed down and was being taken to jail, Burke admitted to “having one too many that night,” in keeping with the report, and later refused a breathalyzer take a look at.
She was booked into jail Thursday morning on a felony cost of resisting an officer with violence and a misdemeanor cost of driving below the affect.
According to jail data, she was being held with out bond as of Thursday morning and is ready to be arraigned Oct. 10.
Editor’s observe: The authentic model of the article misstated the character of Burke’s resisting arrest cost and has since been corrected.
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