A 76-year-old Florida man admitted drinking rum and using cocaine minutes before deputies stopped him for swerving, authorities say, and his record runs deep.
Charles Ducking of Lake Wales was pulled over on U.S. Highway 27 in Waverly after a sheriff’s deputy saw him swerving, Fox News reported.
What followed was a blunt roadside exchange, a cup of rum, a small orange container of cocaine, failed sobriety checks, and another booking into the Polk County Jail, this time on a fourth-or-subsequent DUI charge plus drug counts.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd did not mince words about the stakes for everyone else on the road.
The deputy who stopped Ducking noticed the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and watery eyes, the sheriff’s office said.
Ducking did not hide the problem. He told the deputy his license was already gone for a prior DUI and that he had been drinking.
Authorities quoted him this way:
"Well, I can't show you my driver's license cuz it's suspended cuz DUI. And I have been drinking a little bit right now,"
Then he showed a silver thermal cup with brown liquid inside and identified it himself.
"This here is my rum I'm drinking,"
A traffic deputy recognized him from a DUI arrest in May. A search of the vehicle turned up a small orange container with cocaine. Ducking allegedly said he had “done a line” 10 minutes before the stop.
Field sobriety tests showed impairment. Breath tests registered blood-alcohol readings of.094 and.095, both over Florida’s.08 legal limit.
Deputies arrested him and booked him into the Polk County Jail. Charges included DUI as a fourth or subsequent offense, possession of cocaine, driving with a suspended license, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The May DUI was not ancient history. Ducking had been released from jail days after that arrest after posting bond. The condition was clear: do not possess or consume alcohol.
Four months later, deputies again found him impaired on a public highway, this time with rum in the cup and cocaine in the car, according to the sheriff’s office account.
His local sheet is longer still. Authorities said he had been arrested nine other times in Polk County dating back to 2001, including multiple DUI arrests.
That is the part that should alarm every driver who shares those roads. A man already suspended for DUI, already warned by bond terms, still got behind the wheel after drinking and, by his own alleged admission, using cocaine.
Sheriff Grady Judd credited his deputies for proactive patrol work and put the danger in plain language.
"While we appreciate Charles Ducking's cooperation during the traffic stop, the fact of the matter is, he is lucky he hasn't yet killed someone or himself while driving drunk and high on drugs,"
Judd added:
"He has tempted fate too many times, and he needs to make some serious changes in his life before it's too late,"
And on the stop itself:
"I am proud of my deputies for their proactive patrolling to find impaired drivers and get them off the road."
Cooperation at the window does not erase the choice to drive suspended, drunk, and high. It does not erase a multi-year string of arrests. It does not erase bond conditions that already barred alcohol.
Cases like this are why motorists care less about soft excuses and more about who is still licensed, still loose, and still weaving across a lane on a state highway.
Ducking is 76. Age does not make rum and cocaine safer at highway speed. A suspended license did not keep him off U.S. 27. A prior DUI and a no-alcohol bond condition did not keep the cup empty.
Polk County deputies did the job the public pays them to do: spot the swerve, run the tests, take the keys, and book the charges. Sheriff Judd’s warning was not theater. A fourth-or-subsequent DUI count exists because some offenders keep coming back until a crash writes the ending.
No injuries were reported in this stop. That is fortune, not a safety plan. Taxpayers, lawful drivers, and families on the same roads should not have to hope a repeat impaired driver stays lucky forever.
Get the chronic offenders off the road before the next swerve ends in a funeral, not another booking photo.
