I’ll admit: If you’re a project car enthusiast, it’s easy to think I can still limp it home even when your vehicle’s having a problem. And if you have a single headlight go out, you might be right. But not if your entire vehicle has burst into flames. One Florida man tried to drive home anyway. Now he has a DUI for his trouble.
Witnesses report that 60-year-old Patrick Rinaldi had multiple opportunities to make better choices. Another driver first noticed smoke pouring from beneath a sedan on U.S. 192 in Melbourne, Florida, and called the police. It was about 6:20 p.m. on Friday night. As the witness watched, Rinaldi pulled his car over. That would have been a great time to address the problem or call a tow.
Not Rinaldi. He reportedly pulled back onto the road and kept driving the smoking car. Then, flames appeared. Rinaldi pulled off the road a second time. Then he decided to just send it and began driving again.
Florida man finally parks his burning car
When the flames overtook the rear of the car, engulfing part of the vehicle, Rinaldi fianlly pulled over. By the time the officers arrived, Rinaldi had finally parked. In the process of pulling all the way off the highway, he appears to have charred a 75-foot stretch of land and set a wildfire in a nearby field. The fire spread hundreds of feet down the road before Brevard County Fire Rescue put it out.
Rinaldi told police he had “barely” been able to get his wife out of the burning car in time. Of course, witnesses told a very different story.
The responding Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy noted Rinaldi’s eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slurred, and he smelled like alcohol. He admitted to having one Budweiser. But he refused a breathalyzer test. That gave the officer enough probable cause to investigate, searching the vehicle and finding a bottle of liquor on the passenger floorboard. Rinaldi was charged with DUI and refusing to submit to DUI testing.
