Staff report

NEWBERRY, Fla. – Mason Luke Gleeson, 23, was arrested yesterday after allegedly hitting two occupied cars in a parking lot while intoxicated, refusing to sign four citations, and refusing to submit to DUI testing.

At about 7:30 p.m. on October 10, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to the parking lot of the Jonesville McDonald’s (14124 W. Newberry Road), where victims and witnesses said a white male in a dark-colored sedan with an Oklahoma tag hit two vehicles and then drove away, heading west through the Publix parking lot towards NW 143rd Street. Two vehicles were reportedly damaged, and one victim reported a back injury.

Deputies reportedly found the sedan, with extensive front and side damage, in the Somerset neighborhood. They detained Gleeson, and a victim positively identified him as the driver of the sedan.

Gleeson reportedly denied driving the vehicle, and post Miranda, he said again that he had not been driving and refused to perform field sobriety exercises.

The deputy noted that Gleeson’s eyes were bloodshot, and he needed to lean against a patrol vehicle to keep his balance; the deputy also reported smelling alcohol on his breath. Gleeson allegedly tried to pull away from deputies.

A search of the sedan reportedly produced two 99 Bananas shooters and a shot glass in the center console, along with a 24-ounce bottle of Modelo Chelada on the rear floorboard.

In the patrol vehicle, Gleeson reportedly pulled on the door handles and said multiple times that his insurance would pay for any damages. At the jail, after he’d been read his Miranda warning but without being questioned, he reportedly said he knew he’d left the scene of a crash he caused.

Gleeson has been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a crash involving bodily injury, DUI with property damage and/or injury, resisting an officer without violence, driving under the influence (DUI), DUI with refusal to submit to testing, and four counts of refusing to sign a citation. He has no local criminal history; Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard set bail at $196,500.

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.