State Representative Dane Eagle Fighting DUI Charges in Tallahassee

As has been heavily reported in the local and state-wide media, Florida State Representative Dane Eagle of Cape Coral was arrested on April 21 at approximately 2:00 AM for alleged drunk driving in Tallahassee. Eagle has recently announced he won't resign and will fight the DUI charges against him, according to a recent article in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Representative Eagle's arrest was recorded by a Tallahassee police officer's dash cam and includes audio of the conversation between the officer and Eagle. At one point the officer asks if Eagle has been drinking. Eagle says no and the officer follows with a question about the smell of alcohol emanating from the car. The officer also asks about his erratic driving. He was stopped for his driving behavior as he pulled out of a Taco Bell drive-through.

In his address to the media on Wednesday May 8, Eagle said  " 'I should never have been out in the early morning hours, driving on very little sleep and trying to eat the food I just purchased all at the same time. That kind of distracted driving is dangerous, and I thank God no one was hurt.' " 

Eagle admits that he should have been stopped as a result of his driving but that he was not impaired as the result of alcohol. Since he refused to take the Breathalyzer test the officer offered and did not comply with a field sobriety test, determining if he actually was intoxicated may be impossible. However, Eagle still runs the risk of being convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. He can, of course, minimize his exposure to conviction with a highly skilled criminal defense attorney on his side.

If Eagle is not convicted of DUI, he will likely face a penalty for refusing the officer's tests. This could lead to a license suspension of up to one year. Furthermore, prosecutors may use Eagle's refusal of the test as evidence against him though they will not have potentially incriminating BAC test results. His next court appearance is June 25 and the legal strategy his defense attorney employs will certainly garner significant attention.