Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey: Driver Found Asleep at Wheel on I-95 Off Ramp Arrested for DUI, Cocaine Possession

Now in Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge on $3,500 bond

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA — While you were sleeping…the driver of the vehicle pictured below apparently was too, as Deputies would soon learn after they responded to the I-95 off ramp at SR 192, for a suspicious vehicle.

Thankfully, our citizens had “seen something and said something” about a vehicle that was sitting at the light and did not proceed once the light turned green, even with folks honking their horns at the driver.

If that wasn’t bad enough, callers also noticed that the windows appeared to be fogged up, so apparently the vehicle had been sitting there for a little bit.

As Deputies Arnudts and Fultz arrived on scene, they saw a male, later identified as Shane Kaplan, sleeping behind the wheel of the vehicle, while the car was still in drive.

While they made several unsuccessful attempts to wake Kaplan enough to open the door, he did at one point take his foot off the brake, causing the car to move forward and hit the back of one of our patrol cars, which our Deputies had strategically positioned there to prevent the vehicle from driving off.

Despite the minor fender bender, Kaplan still was unable to respond to the Deputy’s commands, so at this point, they broke open the passenger window so they could get to Kaplan, who seemed confused as to what was going on and was actually resisting the Deputies as they tried to detain him.

Once he was safe and secure in the back of our patrol car, Deputies observed a Landshark beer in the cupholder of the vehicle. They asked Kaplan if he wanted to take a shot at the old Field Sobriety Exercises, which he refused, along with refusing to provide a breath sample.

The fun didn’t end there, though, as Kaplan was being searched, they located a baggie in his wallet containing a white powdery substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.

Kaplan took a ride to Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge in the backseat of one of our courtesy shuttles, where he could do all of the sleeping he wanted. Kaplan had a reservation waiting at the lodge for DUI, Possession of Cocaine, and Resisting without violence and had a total bond of $3,500.

The good news is that Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge has a one-star comfortable sleep rating on www.prisonlocity.com.

Folks, I’ve said it before, and unfortunately, I know I’ll have to say it again: stop driving under the influence! You may not care about your life, but you put every other person’s life at risk that you are near while driving under the influence, and they don’t deserve to pay the ultimate price because of your reckless, careless, and immature decisions!

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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