Man Arrested After Wrecking Car Through House

AVON PARK - A man was arrested late Saturday afternoon after he was accused of smashing his car into a house and then taking off, according to an official with the Avon Park Police Department.

Roberto Jimenez, of Plant City, was charged with DUI, leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a valid driver's license in connection with the Saturday evening accident at 2601 Woodruff Heights, said police Sgt. Sally Vega. All three charges are misdemeanors.

Jimenez was being held at Highlands County Jail in lieu of a $2,250 bond Sunday.

According to Vega and other witnesses, a red Plymouth Breeze with Ohio license plates backed through the wall of the house at around 4:18 p.m. Saturday.

Vega said that car was driven by Jimenez, who was visiting a neighbor when he hit the house. The home, owned by Reina V. Rodriguez and Angel L. Maldonado according to Highlands County Property Appraiser records, was unoccupied at the time of the accident, and no injuries were reported.

Vega said that Jimenez drove the Breeze from the house after hitting it. An officer found him an hour later at Cornell Street near Carolina Avenue.

When the officer asked where Jimenez was heading from, he said "The house that I just hit," Vega said as she read portions of a preliminary report. The officer asked why he left the accident and Jimenez was quoted saying "I was just trying to get to my brother."

Two alcohol tests performed on Jimenez indicated he had a blood alcohol content of 0.158 and 0.165. Legally, one is considered intoxicated when his or her alcohol level is above 0.08. For a 160-pound man, it would take roughly six or seven cans of beer to reach those reported levels.

The house had a wooden barricade covering the hole, roughly the size of a garage door. Clothes were still hanging from a line on the other side of the home Sunday.

Maldonado, reached by telephone Sunday, said that he was away for a few days when his brother called him and told him about the accident.

"It's shocking for me," Maldonado said. "That's a street where people come in quick but not quick enough to knock in the walls."