A Florida man is facing DUI charges after authorities say he was "heavily intoxicated" when he crashed a riding lawnmower into a police cruiser.
Gary Wayne Anderson, 68, was arrested Saturday night following the crash in Haines City, near Tampa, according to WFLA.
Police said the officer was inside a store when he heard a loud noise come from where his cruiser was parked. When he walked outside, he spotted Anderson on a lawnmower with an attached trailer and his cruiser's rear bumper was damaged.
Anderson couldn't complete field sobriety tests and the officer wrote in an arrest report that his demeanor "ranged from laughing to aggressive." He also claimed he had been poisoned by police, officials said.
Officers took Anderson to a nearby hospital where he gave a breathalyzer sample, which determined his blood-alcohol level was .241, more than three times the legal limit in Florida, the report said.
Anderson also had cocaine in his system, but accused police of putting it in his system, the report said. During his arrest Anderson was "directing profane language and racial slurs at the officer," the report said.
Police said Anderson's driver's license has been suspended since March 1978, and he has two prior DUI convictions.
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"I'm proud of the professional demeanor our officers showed when dealing with this heavily-intoxicated, belligerent offender," Haines City Police Chief Jim Elensky said in a statement. "It's never a good idea to get behind the wheel drunk, even if that wheel is to a Craftsman, Massey Ferguson or John Deere."
Anderson was being held on $3,000 bond Tuesday, jail records showed. Attorney information wasn't available.
