The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:21 PM

53-Year Old Woman Charged With DUI Riding Horseback

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) – A 53-year-old woman riding a horse down a busy Florida highway has been arrested and charged with driving drunk.

Polk County Sheriff’s officials said in a news release that someone called 911 about a woman who appeared confused and possibly in danger. When deputies arrived they found Donna Byrne riding her horse in the road.

Officers did a sobriety test and said she gave breath samples that registered blood-alcohol level of .161 — twice Florida’s legal limit of .08.

Byrne is charged with DUI and animal neglect for endangering and failing to provide proper protection for the horse.

Deputies took the horse to the Polk County Sheriff’s Animal Control livestock facility. She was booked into the Polk County Jail. Jail records did not list an attorney for her.