Florida Man Took Kids to the Park Drunk, Deputies Say

A 22-year-old man is being held without bond in the Sarasota County Jail after deputies say he took two small children to Myakka State Park Thursday evening while he was impaired and then fled a deputy while driving at dangerously high speeds.

The case against Robert Reader began to unfold around 8 p.m. when the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a park ranger about a suspicious vehicle. The park ranger reported there was a man who appeared to be intoxicated inside the vehicle along with two small children, an arrest report stated.

When a deputy responded to the call, the man and children had left the park. The deputy, however, spotted a vehicle matching the description heading westbound on State Road 72 with its headlights flashing. The deputy watched as the vehicle ran off the roadway, kicked up dirt, overcorrected and ended up in the eastbound lane before moving back over to the west, the report said.

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At that point, the deputy turned around and began to pursue the suspect’s vehicle, the report noted. The deputy began to give chase, noting the suspect vehicle driving at 110 mph for nearly a mile in a posted 55 mph zone, the report said.

While the chase was called off, the car was spotted a short time later by another deputy on the side of Palmer Avenue, the report stated. Reader was subsequently arrested and charged with DUI, two counts of child abuse, two counts of DUI with a child under 18, driving without a valid license and fleeing to elude.

The children, ages 5 and 9, were turned over to their mother’s custody.

Reader remained in the Sarasota County Jail without bond Friday.

Booking photo courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office

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