He went for a drunken joyride in the Keys, police say. But it wasn’t in a car
A 35-year-old Boca Raton man was jailed early Wednesday after police said he stole a piece of construction equipment and drove it while drunk on the Overseas Highway in the Lower Keys.
Christopher Paul Hawkins was arrested at mile marker 30 on Big Pine Key after a Monroe sheriff’s deputy spotted him at about 1:35 a.m. driving a big yellow motor grader in the southbound lane with no lights on.
Hawkins was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, DUI with property damage, driving with a suspended license, grand theft and criminal mischief.
“I like it,” Hawkins replied, according to the sheriff’s office, when asked why he was operating a piece of heavy duty construction equipment.
Hawkins also denied driving the grader.
Deputies recognized the Leeboy 685B grader as part of a road construction project underway and located several hundred feet away from where Hawkins was stopped.
When asked to step out of the grader, Hawkins almost fell, deputies reported.
“Hawkins had trouble standing and appeared to be intoxicated,” said Adam Linhardt, sheriff’s office spokesman. “He stated he didn’t remember how much he had to drink, but that his pickup truck was parked at a bar on Little Torch Key.”
Hawkins refused to take the field sobriety tests or later provide a breath sample, police said.
Hawkins damaged the sidewalk and the roadway while operating the vehicle, deputies said. The grader is valued at about $120,000, police said.
On Wednesday afternoon, he remained in jail on $21,000 bond.
In February 2016, a homeless man took a 2015 John Deere backhoe for a joyride on the Seven Mile Bridge, leading deputies on a slow-speed chase, which was captured on video.
Carl J. Blahnik later was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $17,558 for damage to the backhoe and $26,304 for damage to the bridge.
Deputies followed the backhoe while Blahnik drove back and forth.
The backhoe finally stopped when deputies set up road spikes to deflate its tires.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 3:41 PM.
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