Angry golf cart driver accused of keying a car before her 5th DUI arrest
LADY LAKE, Fla. (TND) — Police responding to a shouting match outside a grocery store were told the person responsible for the disturbance “was trying to leave in a silver golf cart.”
One of the officers “blocked the defendant’s golf cart with his patrol vehicle [and] ordered the defendant to turn off the golf cart,” according to her arrest report on the afternoon of March 31, outside a Winn-Dixie in Florida.
The officers referred to a second woman as both a witness and the driver of “the vehicle the defendant scratched with a key.
“The witness reported that the vehicle did not belong to her, but to her son, who was not present when the incident happened.
“The driver informed me that the defendant became argumentative because her son was crossing the street towards the store when the defendant was stopped at the stop sign.”
From there, “Both the defendant and the witness’ son went into the store [and] then exited the store.
“The witness informed that while exiting the store, the defendant was yelling profanities towards her son.
“The witness advised the defendant then walked to the vehicle where she was sitting and scratched the front right passenger door.”
The officer looked and determined “the damage was fresh.”
Then, it was Janine Renee Rapka’s turn and according to her arrest report, there was trouble from the start.
First, an officer ordered her “not to put anything in her mouth, which she refused by eating a piece of gum.
“After being ordered to spit it out, she complied.”
Then, the officer reported smelling “an alcoholic beverage coming from the defendant’s breath.
“I also observed the defendant attempting to argue with the witness and her son.
“The defendant was then detained and placed in my patrol vehicle.”
She gave the officers her “Florida ID,” they said, as opposed to a driver’s license.
A background check found Rapka had been convicted of DUI four times: in 1997, 2003, and 2008 in New Jersey, and on Feb. 21, 2023, right there in Lake County.
The report also said she had “multiple prior guilty convictions” in 2002, 2006, and 2010, all in New Jersey.
Plus, they found her driver’s license was suspended on Jan. 19, 2023, for six months due to DUI, and it “was revoked permanently on Feb. 21, 2023, for having four DUIs on her background.”
Finally, the officers described Rapka’s eyes and pupils.
“The color of her face was flushed,” they wrote, “and the skin of her face was droopy.”
They read her Miranda rights, but “the defendant kept interrupting me by stating, ‘I want my lawyer.’
“The defendant did not acknowledge any of the questions and refused to proceed with the standardized field sobriety exercise.”
She was taken to jail, and eventually agreed to breath tests. Her first result was 0.307 and her second was 0.289.
“While conducting the test,” the officers noted, “the defendant kept repeating that she wanted her lawyer.”
Rapka, 45, was charged with felony DUI-4th or subsequent offense, driving with a revoked license due to DUI, driving with a suspended license-3rd or subsequent offense, and criminal mischief with damage of $1,000 or more.
She spent three days in jail until her release, in lieu of $25,000 bond.
Back in January 2023, there was “a motor vehicle accident” that her arrest report did not describe, but Rapka was driving a car.
She was described as “becoming hostile” and officers said she “appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.”
And, they said she “had left the scene of the accident.”
Officers wrote she denied consuming “any alcohol or medications,” “she refused to answer” other questions, and “refused to participate” in field sobriety exercises.
Her two breath test results on that day were 0.330 and 0.317.
She pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation.
Florida man sitting in golf cart arrested on DUI charge
Drinking and driving is serious, no matter what type of vehicle you’re driving.
A man in Sumter County, Florida, is proof of that.
The man, 45, was arrested recently on a drunk driving charge as he sat in a Club Car golf cart in the middle of the road in The Villages community in Lady Lake. An area resident had reported the man to the local sheriff’s office around 7:30 one evening.
The woman remained on the scene and told the responding deputy that she observed the driver asleep at a red light. She went to see if he was OK and said she smelled alcohol and heard his slurred speech before reporting him.
When the sheriff’s deputy arrived and began talking with the suspect, he observed the man had watery and bloodshot eyes, according to the police report. The deputy also noted the man had trouble answering questions, such as his name, and that he smelled of alcohol. He had trouble completing a field sobriety test, according to the report.
The man allegedly had a breath-alcohol level of .285, more than three times the legal limit, on site. Before the deputy arrested the man, he searched the golf cart and found an open 1.75-liter bottle of Fireball whiskey and four smaller bottles of Fireball.
When the suspect refused to sign the citation for drunk driving, he was charged with resisting an officer. He was taken to jail and released on a $2,500 bond.
A golf cart isn’t the same weight as a car, but this man was a danger to others on the road nevertheless – and to himself — if the evidence shows he was drunk and a jury convicts him. Being behind the wheel of a golf cart while intoxicated is still a crime, and he should seek vigorous representation.
Senior accused in hit-and-run, then 2nd crash at home while drunk driving golf cart
LEESBURG, Fla. – A senior citizen charged with driving a golf cart while drunk is accused in a crash with a car on the road and another crash after he arrived home.
A sheriff’s deputy in Florida reported going to that driver’s home on the evening of Sept. 3 to investigate “a motor vehicle hit-and-run complaint,” but he also met up with the people in the car that was struck.
The arrest report said dispatch told the deputy “an older male subject, Mr. Robert A. Pacewicz, later identified as the defendant, collided into the complainant’s grandmother’s vehicle.
“Furthermore, the defendant left the scene of the traffic crash and proceeded towards his residence, [address].
“Lastly, per LCSO dispatch communications, the complainant advised the defendant was intoxicated and collided with a parking stone inside of his garage.”
The three people in the 2006 Lincoln sedan that was hit followed Pacewicz home.
The driver told the deputy she stopped at a stop sign and Pacewicz, in his 2019 Club Car golf cart, entered the intersection from the right and made a left turn, hitting the driver’s side of her car.
“After the collision, all occupants of Vehicle 2 witnessed the defendant continue traveling” until he got home, the deputy wrote.
But Pacewicz wasn’t done and apparently, he could’ve avoided some of the trouble if he’d been a little nicer.
“The defendant proceeded to drive onto his driveway area and soon thereafter, enter and park his golf cart into the garage,” the arrest report said.
“While attempting to park the golf cart, the defendant exhibited great difficulty with parking, which was evident by the golf cart colliding into an exterior garage wall multiple times.
“According to the driver, she attempted to engage into a civil agreement with the defendant; however, the defendant became uncooperative.
“The defendant refused to provide any information to the driver and later informed the driver that he was entering his residence, with the intention of no longer being disturbed.
“This is when the driver and her party decided to contact LCSO.”
“According to the occupants of Vehicle 2,” the deputy wrote, “the defendant appeared inebriated due to his slurred speech and inability to communicate anything sensible.”
The deputy later agreed, writing, “The defendant’s speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy, and the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage emitted from his mouth.”
At this point, the deputy asked Pacewicz, who was inside his home, “whether he could vacate his residence to provide a statement of events leading toward law enforcement’s interaction with him.
“However, the defendant refused multiple times and increasingly became uncooperative.
“The defendant was questioned if he had any medical conditions, which he responded no to.
“While attempting to encourage the defendant to vacate his residence, the defendant agreed to allow LCSO deputies on scene to examine his vehicle, which was currently parked inside of his closed garage area.
“Shortly after, the defendant opened his garage door, while standing behind a screen door, which attached the garage to a utility room.”
The golf cart matched the description provided, and,
“While inside the defendant’s garage, I communicated to the defendant that I was actively investigating a criminal complaint for operating a golf cart while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage.”
The deputy asked Pacewicz to perform field sobriety exercises and Pacewicz refused.
Instead, he was arrested, but he couldn’t go straight to jail.
“Due to an injury sustained by the defendant during taking the defendant into custody,” paramedics were called to evaluate him. The arrest report did not describe the injury, or how it happened.
In jail, Pacewicz refused to give a breath sample and, “After reading the defendant his implied consent, the defendant acknowledged by spontaneous utterance the fact he consumed alcoholic beverages (wine).”
Pacewicz was charged with a DUI crash with property damage and with leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.
And, “Due to the defendant’s refusal to sign the aforementioned citations, the defendant was issued another citation for failure to sign.”
Pacewicz, 83, pleaded not guilty to the charges and he was released in lieu of $3,000 bond after seven hours in jail.
