KEY WEST, Fla. – An off-duty Key West police officer took action after witnessing a drunken driver hit a bicyclist on the island and keep on going Thursday night, according to an arrest report.
The alleged drunken driver, 28-year-old Scott Luis Rodriguez, flashed a grin in his Monroe County mug shot, but, according to jail records, he faces a serious charge in connection with the crash, which injured the cyclist.
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According to an arrest report, at around 7 p.m., Officer Esteban Andrade saw Rodriguez “zig-zagging” all over the road in a Mazda SUV in the area of Kennedy Drive and North Roosevelt Boulevard.
The report states Andrade called the Key West Police Department non-emergency number and, while on hold, followed Rodriguez onto Truman Avenue, where he turned right onto Whitehead Street.
The report states that at its intersection with Angela Street, Rodriguez hit a bicyclist visiting the Keys from New Jersey and kept on going.
Police said after seeing the crash, the off-duty cop checked on the bicyclist, who wasn’t seriously hurt. The cyclist later took himself to Lower Keys Medical Center with complaints of hip pain and abrasions.
Andrade then continued on to follow Rodriguez, who eventually pulled over in the parking lot of the Monroe County Courthouse at 500 Thomas St., police said.
The officer flashed his badge, identified himself as a police officer and ordered Rodriguez out of the car. He would hold Rodriguez at gunpoint after the suspect “aggressively approached” him, the report states.
It states Andrade feared for the safety of his children, who were with him in his vehicle.
Police said Rodriguez told them he parked his SUV because he was “drunk” and said he became increasingly combative, later declining a field sobriety test.
The report states Rodriguez, who lives on the island, had “noticeably slurred speech” and “screamed and thrashed around” as officers tried to place him in their cruiser. Police found an empty bottle of Smirnoff vodka in the Mazda.
Police said Rodriguez refused to take a breathalyzer test.
According to jail records, he faces a felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving injury and misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage and resisting an officer without violence.