An Ocala man reportedly shoved a police officer who was arresting him on a drunk driving charge after a one-car crash early Sunday.
Ryan Alton Ready, 31, of 735 SE 10th St., was charged with battery on a law-enforcement officer and DUI (first offense) after the crash, which happened around 1 a.m. along the 800 block of North Magnolia Avenue.
Ocala Police officers responded to the scene and found Ready still in the driver’s seat of his gray Ford Mustang, pressing the horn. The vehicle was in the bushes in the median after striking a street sign. An officer gave verbal commands to Ready to stop pressing the horn and open the door of the vehicle, but he refused to comply, according to the OPD report.
The officer opened the door to verify Ready was OK. He seemed very confused as he exited the vehicle. Once outside, he was unable to stand without leaning from side to side and was extremely unsteady. Ready almost fell to the ground but was able to catch himself. His eyes were glassed over and very bloodshot, and the officer smelled the odor of alcohol emitting from the car, the report said.
Officers helped Ready to the sidewalk to get him out of the road. At one point, Ready tensed up and stopped walking, then shoved one of the officers in his upper body. He was escorted to the ground to protect him from striking another officer. While being checked by EMS, Ready made incoherent statements, such as the tree was “too strong” and that’s what caused him to crash, according to the report.
When asked how much he had to drink, Ready said, “enough.” He was incoherent and wouldn’t answer questions. While being taken to the Marion County Jail, Ready asked where he was approximately five times, and each time an officer said he was in a police vehicle on the way to jail. Once there, he refused to provide a breath sample for testing, the report said.
Ready is being held on $6,000 bond and will appear in Marion County Court on Nov. 26.