Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ashton Leron Lee, 32, of Alachua, was arrested late Friday night and charged with DUI with damage to property and resisting an officer without violence after allegedly slamming into another vehicle from the rear while speeding, causing the other vehicle to roll over.

At about 11:12 p.m. on October 4, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a report of a crash in the 7400 block of NW 13th Street. The other driver said he had been driving northbound on NW 13th Street when a vehicle came up behind him at a high rate of speed; he said he had no time to react before the vehicle hit him from the rear. The driver said he estimated that he was driving at about 60 mph and the other vehicle was probably driving at 80-100 mph. His car lost traction and rolled at least once before coming to rest in the southbound shoulder. Neither driver was reportedly injured.

The officer reported that Lee’s speech was slurred and his breath smelled like alcohol. Lee reportedly said he had been driving north out of Gainesville and the car in front of him slammed on its brakes just as he changed lanes, but he reportedly refused to answer any more questions about the crash.

Lee reportedly said he was coming “from Gainesville,” and when the officer asked where he had been, he reportedly said he was 32 years old and could go anywhere he pleased. The officer reported that Lee was “argumentative and uncooperative”

The officer reported that when he read Lee his Miranda rights, Lee kept saying he did not understand his rights but could not explain what he did not understand. He eventually said he did not want to answer any questions.

The officer decided he had probable cause that Lee was impaired and began to handcuff him, but Lee reportedly became “extremely combative” and actively resisted officers’ efforts to hold him.

After he was transported to GPD headquarters, he allegedly refused to provide a breath sample and refused to sign the DUI citation.

Lee has no previous local criminal convictions and was released on his own recognizance.

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.