POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Winter Haven man has been arrested after his airboat fell off of a trailer being towed by a truck and abandoned in the roadway in front of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Southeast District and Polk County Fire Rescue Station on Sunday.
A Polk County Fire Rescue Captain notified the sheriff’s office at 9:17 pm Sunday that the boat was blocking Thompson Nursery Road near Lake Wales, in front of the entrance to the Sheriff’s Office substation on Sgt. Mary Campbell Way.
The Captain reported that the driver of a dark Ford F150 that had been hauling the boat appeared intoxicated before he drove away from the area.
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43-year-old Jonathan Whitesides, the owner of the boat, returned to the scene with another man to retrieve the vessel, deputies say.
Investigators say Whitesides’ eyes were bloodshot and watery, his speech was slurred, and he had balance issues.
Whitesides was arrested and taken to the Sheriff’s Processing Center and charged with DUI (M1), Assault on a LEO (M1), and Resisting without Violence (M1).
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Whitesides is employed by the Polk County School Board as a mechanic, according to PCSO.
“One of Mr. Whitesides’s breath samples showed him to be four times the legal limit. I’m not sure how he was walking, let alone driving. He made some very poor decisions that night—he decided to drink and drive, and then he decided to become aggressive towards the deputy on the scene. Both those decisions earned him a trip to jail,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
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