Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Isabel Itallia Maestri, 26, of Alachua, was arrested yesterday and charged with driving under the influence and resisting an officer with violence after she allegedly slammed her car door on an FHP Trooper’s hand.

At about 6:19 p.m. on September 21, a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper conducted a traffic stop on a red Nissan Rogue for driving 82 mph in a 60 mph zone and for a window tint violation; the vehicle pulled into the Fast Track station near the entrance to Turkey Creek (11921 NW U.S. Hwy 441).

The trooper reported that Maestri provided her driver’s license but was unable to provide proof of registration for her vehicle; she reportedly gave him a bill of sale for the vehicle, but the trooper determined that the vehicle had not been registered. The vehicle also reportedly had a license plate that was not registered to that vehicle.

The trooper noted that when he asked Maestri to get out of her vehicle, she was slow to get out and walked slowly to his patrol car. He reported that she snatched her citation out of his hand and became aggressive; the trooper told her she would not be leaving in her vehicle because it would be towed, due to being unregistered.

The trooper reported that he gave Maestri the opportunity to get her belongings out of the vehicle, but she kicked the driver’s door closed, approached him aggressively, and “cussed at” him. The trooper reported that he asked her to step back and had to physically push her back to take the keys out of the vehicle, but she immediately approached him again “with a hostile posture.” The trooper noted that he could smell a strong odor of alcohol on her breath.

When the trooper opened the vehicle’s door to get the keys, Maestri allegedly slammed the car door shut on his hand, and he placed her in handcuffs. The trooper reported that she resisted being handcuffed by kicking and throwing her body weight around, and another trooper responded to help place her in a patrol vehicle. The trooper reported that Maestri made several derogatory comments on the way to the jail and “continously” spit on the divider between the front and back seats.

The trooper reported that he was unable to conduct field sobriety exercises or administer a breath test because of her “aggressive physical and verbal uncooperative demeanor.”

An inventory of Maestri’s vehicle before it was towed reportedly produced an open 19.2-oz. container of alcohol that was about half-empty.

Maestri has been charged with DUI and resisting an officer with violence, and she was cited for a window tint violation. She has a juvenile conviction from 2016 but no adult criminal history. Judge Meshon Rawls ordered her released on her own recognizance after being fitted for a trans-dermal alcohol monitor.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.