ALACHUA ‒ A 34-year-old Gainesville man was arrested by Alachua Police Department (APD) officers on Thursday, Dec. 28, when they went to investigate a disabled vehicle on railroad tracks in Alachua.
The car, driven by Chad Ray July, was found on the railroad tracks near Rachael Boulevard where it crosses under U.S. Highway 441 along with July’s five-year-old daughter.
The investigating officer said in his report that July “had been involved in a single-vehicle traffic crash in which he left the roadway on a curve, lost control of his vehicle and drove onto a section of railroad tracks with sufficient force to rip the entire engine from the vehicle and remove it from the chassis.”
The officer found the driver’s five-year-old daughter sitting in the front right passenger seat unsecured by any kind of restraint, seatbelt or car seat.
July was seated in the driver’s seat in physical control of the vehicle. “The defendant appeared to initially not know where he was, and asked ‘What’s the problem?’” The officer said he immediately detected the odor of alcohol from the driver and vehicle and could see a handgun sitting on the floorboard of the vehicle near his feet.
The officer ordered the driver to step away from the vehicle while retrieving the driver’s daughter from the front seat. After instructing the two to move away from the tracks, the officer said he “observed the defendant sway, stumble, and almost completely collapse upon exiting the vehicle.” He said that July’s speech was slurred, his eyes were watery and bloodshot, and that he had difficulty understanding commands and questions.
July allegedly became verbally aggressive and disobeyed repeated commands to step away from the busy roadway. He allegedly approached officers aggressively and kept trying to return to his vehicle. He said he would “Beat [an officer’s] *ss” and would “slap the sh*t out of [an officer].” He allegedly pointed to each officer, threatening to slap each one and making specific and individualized comments about physical features of each officer. The arresting officer reported that July is 6’10” and weighs 300 pounds, making the threats plausible and “extremely dangerous.”
When EMS arrived, July reportedly told them to stay away from him and his daughter, preventing medical personnel from evaluating his daughter for injuries. He also allegedly held his daughter in front of him, using her as a shield to prevent officers from using less-lethal force options to detain him.
July reportedly said he had been tased before and if officers tased him that he would simply “pull them [Taser probes] out.” The officer reported that his aggression and non-compliance “significantly delayed, obstructed, and impeded the investigation of the traffic crash, the removal of the vehicle from the tracks, and the rendering of care to his daughter.”
July eventually relinquished his daughter to a family member who arrived at the scene of the crash and initially refused to perform field sobriety exercises but later agreed. The officer reported that July performed poorly on the field sobriety exercises and was arrested for DUI.
A search of the vehicle reportedly produced the firearm previously noted by the officer and three grams of marijuana.
July has been charged with DUI with a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher with a minor in the vehicle, child neglect without great bodily harm, three counts of threatening officers, three counts of simple assault on officers, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
July has four misdemeanor convictions (none violent), along with a case where adjudication of guilt was withheld on a charge of video voyeurism, a felony. Bail was set at $286,500 by Judge Susan Miller-Jones.
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custody dispute.
