A former cop, who used to charge people with DUI in Jacksonville, has been charged with DUI, reports news4jax.

Police said Ronald J. he was driving erratically Friday night in Riverside and struck a fence and several cars on Ernest Street. Ronald is charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident.

Police said an officer spotted Ronald parked in the middle of a travel lane. When the officer drove up, Ronald drove off and was eventually pulled over.

The officer wrote in a police report that during the traffic stop, “I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. I contacted the dispatcher and called for the DUI unit. While waiting for the DUI unit, the driver asked me if I was going to arrest him for DUI. I asked him, ‘Why? Have you been drinking?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’”

Ronald refused a breath test, according to the report.

In January, Ronald was involved in an altercation at a Jacksonville police training academy. Police said he stormed out of the academy and apparently made threats against a judge and a lawyer. The judge was given extra security at the courthouse until Ronald was taken into protective custody.

Three days later, after Channel 4 aired the story, the lawyer for Chester Hall, who had been previously arrested by Ronald on a DUI charge, contacted Channel 4 and showed surveillance video of what he said was Ronald punching Hall in the face while he was in handcuffs in December 2009.

Ronald was eventually cleared in a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office internal investigation.

If you’ve too been charged with DUI in Jacksonville, there’s a very good chance you could avoid losing your license and avoid being convicted. To discuss these matters, contact a Jacksonville DUI attorney at our firm today.

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When a Jacksonville Beach cop pulled over Laura G. for suspicion of DUI, he “immediately detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath which she became stronger as she spoke.”

It was early Sunday morning, just after midnight on May 16, 2004, in the 1700 block of 3rd St. in Jacksonville Beach that police officer David Keen observed Laura weaving in the driving lane and inside the parking line in her 1997 Chevy Monte Carlo.

In pulling her over, the police officer also “observed the suspect’s bloodshot/watery eyes and flushed facial tone. The suspect was immediately agitated and was extremely talkative.”

Her state of agitation and talking too much have become her trademarks since being named acting clerk/administrator for the city of Oak Hill over the past seven months. Her tenure has rocked with controversy, from being combative with elected officials, the media and staff; to poor writing and speaking skills, to excessive gossipping and playing sides against each other. It’s well established that she has used the dumpster at city hall to get rid of her trash — beer cans and wine bottles. Her chemical dependency has followed her from that dark night when the night sky was lit up by the flashing lights of a police car and the stench of her breath causing the officer to take away her freedom — at least for a night.
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Atlantic Beach police will be out in full force Saturday night as Jacksonville.com reports:

Police will be out in force this weekend in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day revelers. Atlantic Beach police will have a special detail in the 1200 to 2000 blocks of Mayport Road from 9 p.m. Saturday 3/12/11 to 3 a.m. Sunday.

If you’ve already been charged with DUI in Atlantic Beach or elsewhere in Duval County, it’s important you contact an attorney experienced defending others accused of DUI. Luckily for you, the Jacksonville DUI attorneys at Musca Law offer a free legal consultation to anyone charged with DUI in Florida. Just call 904-236-4110 to schedule yours. With over 100 years of collective experience, you can trust Musca Law will aggressively defend you.

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The Public Defender’s Office could be in their new digs near City Hall by July after the Jacksonville City Council’s approval of the move.

Court services like the Public Defender’s Office are moving across town as the new Duval County Courthouse on Monroe Street gets closer to opening. It is expected to be open by the summer of 2012.

On Tuesday, the council approved moving the public defender from its current location in the Groover-Stewart Building at Market and Forsyth streets into the Jake Godbold City Hall Annex at Laura and Duval streets.

Public Defender Matt Shirk said in a release this morning that the move could be completed by July, a year ahead of the new courthouse opening. While acknowledging that will create an inconvenience for his staff, he estimated it will save the city about $61,000 a month in rent for the Groover-Stewart Building.

The city is purchasing the Godbold building from the Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Initially, the public defender was slated to move to the Ed Ball Building, closer to the new courthouse site, but office spokesman Matt Bisbee said the Godbold building was a better fit because it will require minimal retrofitting and better security.

Florida statutes require counties to provide office facilities for court services.

The State Attorney’s Office eventually will move from the Courthouse Annex at Bay and Market streets to the old federal courthouse building at Julia and Monroe streets.

If you’ve been charged with DUI or a related offense in Duval County and expect to avoid being convicted, a public defender isn’t going to get the job done. They’ll certainly recommend you plead guilty in order to decrease their overwhelming work load.

Call 904-236-4110 to schedule your free consultation with a Jacksonville DUI attorney at Musca Law now. We provide the necessary aggressive representation that, in many cases, can lead to the dismissal of criminal charges.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tony Jones said that in the eight years he’s worked for Universal Towing, he hasn’t seen anything quite like what he saw recently.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, car going towards the railroad tracks?’ It was crazy to me, and the train was sitting right in front of the car,” Jones said.

Free Consultation: 904-236-4110

Jacksonville police said a woman was still sitting in her car as a train was coming down the tracks at Gary Street and San Marco Boulevard.

Officers said a witness saw what was about to happen and got her out of the car before it was too late.

Police said if it weren’t for that witness running toward the train, the train’s conductors would have never seen the car.

Jones said that by the time he got to the scene, the car was positioned east of the tracks, which means the suspect’s car was facing the train head on and missed it by a mere 3 feet.

“It was pretty amazing to me,” Jones said. “It was like she turned left down the track like she was going down the road, but instead she was going down the railroad track.”

Police said that later in their investigation, they discovered the 26-year-old suspect was driving with a learner’s permit. They said she also drove into a fence on Prudential Drive before she eventually ended up on the railroad tracks.

Police said the suspect told officers she had a beer and a mixed drink, and when asked about what happened, police said she told them she couldn’t remember hitting anything with her car.

The suspect was charged with interfering with railroad tracks, DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. She’s being held in the Duval County Jail without bond.

If you’re also facing DUI charges in Duval County, hiring an attorney is of essence. Just call 904-236-4110 to speak with a Jacksonville DUI lawyer at our firm

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AAA Auto Club South and Budweiser will offer their Tow to Go program Nov. 24 through Jan. 2.

Tow to Go provides a confidential ride home and tow, free of charge, to anyone who may have had too much to drink.

Since 1998, the program is credited with keeping more than 12,300 drunk drivers off the roads and is designed to protect everyone on the roads from preventable car crashes, not just the intoxicated driver from a DUI.

Services will be offered in Florida, Georgia, and west and middle Tennessee.

“The busiest time for the Tow to Go program is during the upcoming holiday season when more than 70 percent of the call volume is received,” said Ed Schatzman, senior vice president of automotive services for AAA Auto Club South. “We have decided once again to offer the Tow to Go services from Thanksgiving weekend through New Year’s Day to anyone who may need it because we want everyone to make it home safely to their families this holiday season.”

AAA Auto Club South has 79 branch offices serving more than 4.1 million members in Florida, Georgia, west and middle Tennessee, and Puerto Rico.

Have you been charged with DUI in Jacksonville? If so, contact a Jacksonville DUI lawyer at our firm for your free and confidential consultation.

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