PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A southwest Florida man who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence while his two children were in his Ford Expedition denied being intoxicated, even though his blood-alcohol level was 0.604 percent, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Stephen Allbritton, 46, of Estero, was arrested last Friday on charges of DUI and child neglect.
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According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office report, Allbritton was asleep at the wheel when a deputy found the Expedition stopped in a center turn lane at the intersection of Corkscrew Road and Fire House Lane. The report said his son and daughter were also in the SUV.
After the deputy made several unsuccessful attempts to wake him up, Allbritton eventually raised his head, looked at the deputy, mumbled something and then passed out again, the report said.
Paramedics were called to treat him at the scene, but Allbritton "was unable to follow a conversation or supply an answer," the report said.
Allbritton, who couldn't stand without help from paramedics, was taken to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, where a blood-alcohol level of 0.604 percent was recorded, the report said.
Inmates at the county jail are not permitted with a blood-alcohol level that high, so Allbritton remained at the hospital under the deputy's watch until he could speak.
A later blood draw recorded Allbritton's blood-alcohol level to be 0.407 percent, at which time he was placed under arrest, the report said.
Allbritton's initial blood-alcohol level was almost eight times the state legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Allbritton refused to submit to a breath test and denied that he had consumed any alcoholic beverages, the report said.
The children were placed into the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families and later released to their mother.