A 27-year-old Clermont man was sentenced to 12 months probation for driving impaired after the state attorney dropped charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
Christopher Jack Nicholson was arrested in August 2015 for driving under the influence after running from his vehicle he’d crashed into the Cortez Bridge, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
At a June 10 hearing, 12th Circuit Judge Douglas Henderson accepted Nicholson’s no-contest DUI plea and the prosecutor’s decision not to prosecute the charge for leaving the scene.
Court papers indicate a witness and a Bradenton Beach officer observed him run from the crash.
The officer reported Nicholson, who later refused to provide breath samples to law enforcement, appeared intoxicated.
Nicholson’s attorney filed several motions to dismiss and suppress evidence.
The judge found him guilty of the DUI and ordered him to complete a DUI program, a mental health evaluation and treatment, if necessary, and suspended his driver’s license for six months. A business exception to drive was allowed.
The court also ordered Nicholson to serve 50 hours of public service work, allowing for a possible buy-out of the service, and more than $700 in court costs and fines.
