Michael Ray’s DUI Charge Reduced to Reckless Driving
Micahel Ray is facing a reduced charge in his drunk driving case due to a procedural error.
The country singer was nabbed on a charge of DUI in December 2017 after bumping another car in a fast food driveway. But according to the Orlando Sentinel, Eustis, Fla., police did not give Ray — whose real name is Micheal Ray Roach — the benefit of the doubt.
“Body cam footage does not provide a full view of Mr. Roach,” explains Supervising Assistant State Attorney for Lake County Walter Forgie in a written decision. "However, body cam video … shows the Defendant and officer discussing a football game in detail."
Ray was arrested at a McDonald's drive-thru in Eustis in the morning of Dec. 20, on charges of DUI and drug possession. The Eustis native was arrested around 4AM after his 2012 orange Jeep tapped the 2016 blue Scion in front of him in the restaurant's drive-thru line.
Ray told police that his foot slipped off his car's brake pedal, but authorities noticed that Ray "had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and he stumbled while walking and smelled of alcohol," according to the officer who arrested him. Ray also told police that he had been at a bar in Tavares, a town a few miles south of Eustis; He then failed field-sobriety tests, and refused a breathalyzer test when he arrived at the Eustis Police Department.
A search turned up a glass bottle containing a brown liquid, which the singer said was weed oil. Authorities arrested Ray and held him at Lake County Jail on a $6,000 bond, charging him with one count of reckless driving and one count of felony marijuana possession.
According to the Sentinel, friends interviewed by prosecutors told Ray that the singer had spent the evening with them at Ruby Street Grille in Tavares, Fla. Ray's friends said that he was volunteering for a holiday event, and that he had only had one drink and a light dinner.
Ray recently announced this his sophomore album, Amos, is due out on June 1. The project is named for his late grandfather.
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