A Village of Chatham man who fled from law enforcement in a golf cart this past October, will lose his driver’s license for five years.
Raymond Lewis Hooper Jr., who was 42 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced Tuesday in Sumter County Court on charges of driving under the influence and resisting an officer without violence.
Hooper will also spend 10 days in jail and be placed on probation for 12 months. He was fined a total of $2,180.
At the time of his arrest, a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy found Hooper slumped over the wheel of a golf cart on the cart path north of Talley Ridge Drive and Buena Vista Boulevard.
When the deputy approached the golf cart driver and identified himself, Hooper drove away on the cart path “in an evasive manner,” according to the arrest report. The deputy then activated the lights and sirens on his squad car, turned his spotlight on the golf cart and used his public address system to order the golf cart to stop. However, the golf cart traveled through a tunnel, crossed the roadway of Glenview Road and continued north back onto the cart path. The deputy was ultimately able to stop the golf cart just north of El Camino Real and Buena Vista Boulevard.
Hooper then refused to perform field sobriety exercises, according to the arrest report. The deputy put handcuffs on him and placed him under arrest.
Hooper then “verbally and physically” refused to get into the back seat of the deputy’s patrol car. The deputy had to use “knee strikes” to get Hooper to comply.
Reports indicated Hooper had previously been convicted of DUI in Lake County.
