Florida News: DWI Suspect Crashes Car and Flees Police, Says His Dog Was Driving

Just another day in the Sunshine State.

WFTS reports that a man was arrested for DWI Wednesday evening after he drove into two ditches, hid in a church bathroom, and then tried to convince police that it was his dog who had been driving.

Deputies initially had tried to stop the man from speeding through a neighborhood, when suddenly accelerated while attempting a turn, and traveled into a ditch on the north side of the road. The driver, Reliford Cooper, ended up swerving and going right through another ditch and then crashed into a home Sarasota, FL.

Deputies say that Cooper exited the crashed vehicle and started running behind the homes.  Shortly after, a pastor from a nearby church located a deputy and told her someone was hiding in the bathroom inside the church. Churchgoers forced Cooper out and the deputy took him into custody.

Cooper wasn't done, however. As he was being handcuffed, he argued with and even taunted the deputy, claiming that he wasn't driving the car, and then told the officer they were "As slow as **** ".  The deputy smelled a strong odor of alcohol and marijuana from the man. It was then that Cooper then said that it was his dog who was driving and that he didn't have any drugs on him.

Then Cooper started throwing up and claimed he had a back injury. He was taken to Manatee County Memorial Hospital and later transported to jail.

This isn't the first time a Floridian has used the 'my dog was driving' defense. A Sumter County woman blamed her dog for a crash last August, and even went as far as demanding that the dog be placed under arrest. The dog was never arrested.