An 84-year-old Villager was arrested in a vehicle with smoking hot wheels.
Concetta Ann Montanese of the Village of Tamarind Grove was driving a four-door Toyota Camry which was swerving in and out of lanes on Buena Vista Boulevard at about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 8, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A 911 caller told a dispatcher that the car was “smoking” and “multiple tires were flat.” The shredded tires of the car were “causing sparks to emit from the side due to the metal rims on asphalt,” the report said.
A deputy began looking for the vehicle and spotted “multiple pieces of shredded tire in the roadway” on Buena Vista Boulevard near St. Charles Place.
By the time the deputy caught up to the vehicle, the tires were “torn off the rim leaving the rims to be balding on the asphalt.” In addition, the front bumper was not intact and was hanging from the vehicle.
When the deputy approached the vehicle, there was a “strong odor of burnt rubber and burning metal.”
Montanese, who serves as the activities chair for the Sumter Singles Club, admitted she had been drinking alcohol. She had a hard time standing and “had to be assisted from falling over.”
The Portland, Maine native was asked to rate her level of intoxication on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very intoxicated.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m an 8,” she said.
She said she has “meniscal injuries to her knees,” so instead of the regular field sobriety exercises, she was asked to use her fingertip to touch her nose and to recite the alphabet. She failed to meet the standard in both exercises. She provided breath samples that registered .099 and .098 blood alcohol content.
Montanese was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $500 bond.
