TAMPA, Florida — Florida Highway Patrol troopers said they intercepted a wrong-way, drunk driver overnight in Hillsborough County.
According to troopers, they were first alerted around 12:40 a.m. about a dark sedan heading southbound in the northbound lanes of the Veterans Expressway.
With the help of Hillsborough County deputies, troopers eventually located the sedan on State Road 580 approaching the intersection of N Armenia Avenue.
"The vehicle was smoking, and the front tires were falling off. The vehicle had a driving pattern indicating that the driver was extremely impaired," troopers wrote in the arrest report.
After the driver failed to slow down for a traffic stop, troopers successfully stopped the car using a PIT maneuver, according to FHP.
Troopers said they removed the driver from the car and placed him in handcuffs after he refused to get out of the car on his own. The driver reportedly told troopers his name was William Smith. The man's license later identified him as 57-year-old Billy Spencer.
"The driver knew that he had given me a false name," the trooper wrote.
Spencer reportedly had bloodshot, glassy eyes and a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. According to FHP, Spencer stayed silent when asked to give a breath sample or perform field sobriety exercises.
Spencer was transported to the Hillsborough County Jail and charged with resisting an officer, giving a false name to law enforcement, driving under the influence, refusing to submit to testing and felony fleeing to elude.
While at the jail, troopers said they found 19 counterfeit $20 bills mixed with other money in Spencer's belongings. He is now facing an additional charge of possession of ten or more counterfeit bills.
