Florida woman with bottle of Jack Daniel’s caught driving golf cart on I-95, FHP says
A woman was arrested over the weekend after she drove a golf cart on Interstate 95 in southern Brevard County, prompting a trucker to pull her over and take away her keys, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The woman had an opened bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in her bag, police said.
Diane Maria Hawk, a Barefoot Bay resident, is facing charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence, county court records show. The 58-year-old woman has been released from jail since her arrest.
FHP responded on Saturday night to multiple calls about a golf cart being driven on I-95 at mile marker 167 south of the Palm Bay-Malabar exit, according to Hawk’s arrest report. Upon arrival, officers learned that a female truck driver identified as Jenessa Josefina Caba saw Hawk passing out at the wheel and then used the semi truck she was driving to guide the much smaller vehicle off the road.
Stopping on the right shoulder, Caba told authorities she took the keys from the golf cart because Hawk was being “combative” and trying to drive again on the highway.
Troopers say they noticed that Hawk was slurring her words and that her breath smelled of alcohol. When Hawk was asked to show a driver’s license or ID, police say she gave them a restaurant card.
Later Hawk was told to sit in the back of a patrol vehicle but she refused, the troopers noted, adding that she said she needed her bag before getting into the vehicle. Out of concern for their safety, one trooper searched the bag, finding an opened bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire whiskey, according to the report.
When police tried to handcuff Hawk, they say she started to resist to the point where it was no longer safe to administer a field sobriety test, so instead they arrested her and took her to a police station before she was transported to county jail.
Hawk’s next court date is Aug. 22 at the Moore Justice Center, court records show.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 8:24 PM.
