Six months ago, Pinellas County Fish and Wildlife Officer David Salcido was charged with driving under the influence after an automobile accident that injured two men, Tampa DUI attorney John Musca has learned. On Thursday, July 9, the State Attorney's Office dropped Salcido's charges to reckless driving, stating that they believed a DUI case would be difficult to prove against Salcido because of a lack of evidence.
The decision by prosecutors came despite reports from four Pinellas County Sheriff's Deputies with whom Salcido worked, which stated that Salcido displayed signs of intoxication on the evening of the December 19th crash. According to the deputies Salcido staggered when he walked, was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol. Additionally, witnesses to the accident and sheriff's deputies who responded to the accident reported that Salcido exhibited odd behaviors at the scene of the crash including driving away from the crash scene and returning twice, stumbling around with his fly open and refusing to speak with sheriff's deputies.
Despite this strong evidence of Salcido's intoxication, the State Attorney's Office stated that there were several factors that they thought would make it difficult to prove that Salcido was driving under the influence. Most significantly, Salcido refused to take breathalyzer and field sobriety tests. Based on Salcido's decisions to decline these tests the State Attorney's Office believed that there was not enough to prove that Salcido drove under the influence and instead decided to charge him with reckless driving, which under Florida law is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Prosecutors likely consider the lower offense easier to prove than the offense of drunk driving. In our next articles in this series we will discuss the different tests that Salcido refused and how this affected the amount of evidence the State Attorney's Office was able to present against him in his criminal case.
