Driver sleeping behind wheel bursts into song when deputy wakes him, Florida cops say

A motorist found unconscious behind the wheel of his idling vehicle burst into song when a deputy knocked on the window, Florida investigators say.

Exactly what he was singing isn’t clear in Deputy Jesse Brown’s body cam video, but the odd encounter ended with the man under arrest, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

It happened just 2 a.m. Monday, April 22, near Belleview, when deputies found a vehicle stopped in a turn lane on S.E. Baseline Avenue, officials said. Belleview is about a 65-mile drive northwest of Orlando.

Brown knocked on the window more than two dozen times before getting a reaction, video shows.

“The driver ... was passed out behind the wheel and unresponsive,” the sheriff’s office reports. “When he finally woke up, he began to sing along to the radio and appeared to be obviously impaired.”

The 35-year-old man told deputies he believed his vehicle was on the shoulder of the road. However, deputies pointed out it was actually in a turn lane.

When asked how much he had to drink, the driver responded: “Not enough,” the video shows.

The suspect, who lives in Ocala, refused to do a field sobriety test, and was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and refusal to submit to testing for driving under the influence, jail records show. Bond was set at $3,000.

This story was originally published April 24, 2024 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Driver sleeping behind wheel bursts into song when deputy wakes him, Florida cops say."