A homeless man was jailed Sunday afternoon after running through a red light on W Silver Springs Boulevard and almost slamming into a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy and another vehicle.
The deputy conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, driven by 53-year-old Thelton Vester Hall, and observed him moving inside the car as he made a prolonged stop. Hall then quickly exited the vehicle and the deputy asked him to get back inside and produce his driver’s license, a sheriff’s office report states.
Hall handed the deputy a Florida identification card and said he didn’t have a license. The deputy reported that Hall had bloodshot, watery eyes and he could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle. But when asked if he had been drinking, Hall said that he had not, the report says.
Hall refused to participate in field sobriety exercises and was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail. He also refused to provide a breath sample and declined to answer any questions, the report says.
A computer search showed that Hall had four prior driving under the influence arrests in 1992, 1996, 2003 and 2005. He also had two prior refusals in 2003 and 2005 and two prior driving while license suspended or revoked convictions in 1998 and 2005, the report says.
Hall was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (fourth or subsequent offense). He was being held on $10,000 bond and is due in court on Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charge.