A Fort Meyers man was arrested last week when a child fell of the swamp buggy he was allegedly driving while under the influence.

The incident occurred Wednesday evening around 7:30 PM. Police say the suspect, 58-year-old Glen Maxey, was in his F-350 pickup truck and chasing his ex-wife’s car down the road when they responded to the call. Deputies were able to stop Maxey, detain him and test him for drunkenness. Maxey told police he had been in an argument with his ex-wife.

The police arrested Maxey for DUI after administering several field tests. They then spoke with the woman, who told them she had dropped the children off for a visit and saw Maxey putting them in the swamp buggy. She said he was holding a child on his lap while driving erratically, and one of the children actually fell out of the vehicle on the way back to the home.

The child had bruises on the back and was vomiting at the scene of the arrest. The child was treated at the scene and then taken to a medical facility. Swamp buggies are particularly dangerous vehicles due to their height from the ground. Large tires are used to keep the vehicle elevated in the mud, meaning the child likely fell a significant distance when dropped from the vehicle.

In Florida, this DUI will appear on Maxey’s record same as a DUI for driving a car.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Driving Under the Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.