Ron Book’s account of his DUI arrest inconsistent with police and witness report.
Details are beginning to emerge from Ron Book’s DUI arrest Sunday Night and as more information comes to us, we will continue to share it. Here’s what we know so far.
Ron Book was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol on Sunday February 24, 2019. He has been charged with (1) Dui Alcohol Or Drugs 1St, (2) Dui W/Dam To Prop Or Pers, and (3) Refuse To Submit To Dui T. His case has been assigned Case Number 19002107MM10A.
His mugshot, showing Book dressed in jail scrubs is below:
Ordinarily the case would be prosecuted by the Broward State Attorney’s office, but State Attorney, Michael J. Satz, is a personal friend of Book’s so it’s likely that another prosecutor will be brought in. His daughter, State Senator Lauren Book also represents the jurisdiction in which the arrest took place.
According to the arrest report, FHP responded to a rollover accident that night involving a Lamborghini (driven by Book) and a black Ford Focus (driven by Deryk Rivera). Rivera’s was the vehicle that rolled over.
When the reporting FHP officer, Trooper Corominas arrived at the scene he was advised by Sargent Castano that there was an odor of alcohol and slurred speech from the driver of a Lamborghini. The EMS supervisors that arrived on scene also reported the odor of alcohol coming from Book. As soon as the reporting Trooper began speaking with Book, he also detected the odor of Alcohol.
The Trooper then informed Book that he was there to conduct a DUI investigation and performed a field sobriety test. Book reportedly displayed 6 out of 6 clues for DUI on the first test and began the second test (walking heel to toe in a straight line) twice before being prompted to begin. When he started, he repeatedly lost balance and was in danger of falling down. After being placed under arrest he was brought to the County’s DUI intake where he refused the breathalyzer.
Book was kept overnight and released Monday on $1500 bond. He denied driving drunk and gave cancer medication as an excuse, but that does not explain the smell of alcohol detected by three individual responders. It also does not explain his refusal to take a breathalyzer exam. If he was not drunk, why not take the test to use as exculpatory evidence?
There’s another inconsistency in Book’s story. Book claimed the accident was caused by Rivera. Book blamed the accident on Rivera claiming he had him off, but FHP noted that the damage to Book’s car was inconsistent with his story and that claim was further refuted by an interview with the other driver in the below news story.
Here is an interview with the driver of the other vehicle, disputing Book’s claim that he was cut off:
This is not Book’s first arrest. In 1986, he was charged with insurance fraud and in the mid-90’s for making illegal campaign contributions. Let’s see how well his “political contributions” pay off and how quickly this arrest gets swept under the rug
We will continue to update this developing story as additional information comes to us. In the meantime, here are some statistics about drunk driving in case you wanted to contact your legislator to see what they intend to do about this public safety issue.
- THIS IS NOT THEIR FIRST TIME: An average drunk driver has driven drunk over 80 times before first arrest.
-Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Crime in the United States: 2014” https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014THI/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-29 Incidence data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Alcohol-Impaired Driving Among Adults — United States, 2012.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. August 7, 2015 / 64(30);814-817. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6430a2.htm - IF IT SAVES ONE CHILD IT WILL BE WORTH IT: In 2017, 220 children aged 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes involving alcohol-impaired-drivers.
-NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2017 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812630 -
IT’S NOT A MATTER OF IF, BUT WHEN THEY WILL RE-OFFEND: About one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders.
-Fell, Jim. “Repeat DWI Offenders in the United States.” Washington, DC: National Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Traffic Tech No. 85, February 1995. - THIS IS A PUBLIC SAFETY CRISIS: Every day in America, another 30 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes. That’s one person every 48 minutes.
-National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2017: Alcohol-Impaired Driving.” Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812630 - IT IS GROSSLY UNDER-REPORTED: Each day, people drive drunk more than 300,000 times, but only about 2800 are arrested
-Arrest data: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Crime in the United States: 2015” https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/table-29Incidence data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Alcohol-Impaired Driving Among Adults — United States, 2012.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. August 7, 2015 / 64(30);814-817. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6430a2.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Does anyone know if lobbyist have to be licensed and credentialed? If so, what is the agency in FL that does it?
We all need to call them and demand that Ron’s credentials be revoked! We need to be ruthless on this guy people.
Good luck on that! All I have seen these past 2 years are nothing but key broad warriors. Look at Derek one man protesting the Books. Myself, I have been involved with protesting Ex- Sheriff Joe Arpaio and that wasn’t even my fight I was asked to protest at a peaceful rally! I don’t see anything on the news about any peaceful protests in Miami! It only takes a spark to ignite a fire from within. I am sad to say but it seems that F.A.C doing all the fighting and speaking out for your Rights!! Go out there and fight for your freedom! Sitting at a computer and typing I am not attacking any of you How long are you going to be Sheep? Start being a wolf!!!
Dear FAC – I’d like to point out one problem I had with your report. I am a big follower of what you write but I was surprised to see the one piece where you say “It also does not explain his refusal to take a breathalyzer exam. If he was not drunk, why not take the test to use as exculpatory evidence?”. Now that my innocent son is in prison, who fully cooperated with the police, including their ‘tests’, saying and doing nothing is what I feel is the best practice. The police are no longer our friends, they are there to arrest you and gain evidence for the prosecution. We think, and say to others, if you are not guilty why not talk to the police – but we need to change that perception in our country at this time.
“1) Even perfectly innocent citizens may get themselves into trouble even when the police are trying to do their jobs properly, because police malfeasance is entirely unnecessary for the innocent to convict themselves by mistake; 2) talking to police may bring up erroneous but believable evidence against even innocent witnesses; and 3) individuals convinced of their own innocence may have unknowingly committed a crime which they inadvertently confess to during questioning.[5] This follows the reasoning of Justice Robert Jackson in Watts v. Indiana.”
Yes, Kathleen, whether to blow or not to blow is a controversial issue. There are pros and cons to doing both and we of all people know that the police are not on our side. However, Ron Book is one of our main detractors and by his one voice has kept hundreds of citizens in Dade County homeless for the past decade. He has been quoted as saying no registered sex offender deserves to live by using tired rhetoric and misinformation to convince the public and law makers, one of whom is his daughter who he, through political favors, got elected as a Fl State Senator. We’re just suggesting the same treatment, now, for him. It’s only fair.
The bullet points in particular are among the most powerful things FAC has written in a long time (and that’s saying a lot).
Also, given his knowledge of law enforcement, didn’t he know his rights when it came to talking to the police? Especially when it involves possibly false statements to them!
He is also an attorney with a law firm and works with lawyers. But I guess he was too drunk to do any of that in the moment.
Drunk people do things that dont make sense. Book is so egotistical and has gotten away with so much that I am quite sure he thinks he is above the law and is shocked he has even gotten into this much trouble. Most often, justice is bought and paid for.
Okay, time for me to chime in.
1) If he’s impeding the investigation by lying to law enforcement, he should also be charged with the appropriate charges whether it is interfering with an investigation or lying to investigator(s) or peace officer.
2) There are cameras everywhere. Under FOIA and Florida’s very own open records laws, we should be able to obtain the CCTV footage from the highway cameras nearest and in the path leading up to the scene of the “accident”.
3) Book shows no remorse for the other drive, including ignoring the fact the other drive could have been hurt. Book only cares about himself here.
4) If Book does indeed have a history of reckless driving and it can be shown he was being reckless leading up to the “accident”, then he should be facing yet another charge and potentially losing his license. Drive privileges are just that, privileges, not a right.
5) We should have a problem obtaining the body cam and patrol car footage of this incident from all officers involved, including the booking process. From that footage we can see for ourselves what was said and done, as well how the cops were treating him. My guess is he was not even handcuffed and never actually spent time in the jail, but instead posted bond before the need to reach a jail cell.
6) Any statement from him about medications affecting his ability to drive in any way shape or form, then a letter to the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles may be in order to have their investigators look into his driving history and if nessesary based on his statement(s), force him to obtain valid medical clearance for driving.
7) If the medications he is one requires that he is not to operate a motor vehicle, then he should be charged for driving under the influence.
8) The driver of the other car is going to get a rich man if he pursues it and does not “settle” out of court.
There is so much more, but these are just the highlights.
very well presented and thought out. ure would be nice to see some “karma” go on here.
I wonder what the recidivism rate for drunk drivers is? What is the comparison of the damage drunk drivers do to others compared to the damage sex offenders do? How permanently damaging is the effects of DUI compared to sex offenders? Is it time to have a DUI registry and not let those on that registry live close to where children are…you might just as well, add any humans. Why not a registry for anyone who has ever done anything wrong? That way humans could not live within 1000 feet of each other since all have done something wrong in their lives…except maybe Lauren Book.
If Ron Book is trying to claim his meds made him drive erratically, then:
Has Book had cancer for a decade? Other media reports found a decade worth of Book citations for reckless driving.
Are we honestly expectedd to believe the “most powerful lobbyist” who makes millions of dollars can’t read a prescription label warning of drowsiness or not to drive while taking the meds?
Why would Book refuse a breathalyzer test if you are sober?
Why lie to the police about how he caused the accident?
PS: Isn’t it a big coincidence the guy he hit is a spectacled somewhat dark complected guy named DERYK?