A 17-year-old teenager who was involved in a DUI crash in Clearwater with a sheriff’s deputy in June has been charged Tuesday with a Florida DUI. The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Gabrielle Granata was arrested Tuesday afternoon and booked into the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center. The arrest came one day after her 18th birthday.
The Pinellas County car accident took place June 23rd after 12:00 a.m. around McMullen-Booth Road. According to police reports Granata was on State Road 580 and made a right turn from an inside lane. Deputy Robert Wojciechowski ws driving a marked cruiser in the center lane when Granata, who was driving a 1998 Toyota Camry, crashed into the patrol car. Two other teenagers were riding in the car with Granata at the time of the car crash.
All four people involved in the Clearwater DUI accident were hospitalized but none suffered serious injuries. There is no mention as to why the DUI investigation took three months to conclude but the 18-year-old is not only facing a DUI charge. She also received a traffic ticket for an improper lane change. According to the article in the St. Pete Times the investigation into the accident is still not complete.
Most cases involving teen drivers and alcohol are usually .02 violations. That is the level of intoxication at which an underage driver will have their license suspended. The story on TampaBay.com makes no mention of Granata’s blood-alcohol level at the time of her crash with the deputy but the DUI charge indicates she was most likely at or above the 0.08 threshold that is used in Florida to determine level of intoxication. When there is an accident with hospitalizations involved and police suspect it may be the result of a drunk or impaired driver, usually a blood draw is ordered to check for impairment.
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