“This Here Is My Rum I’m Drinking”: Florida Man Faces New DUI Charge 4 Months After Last Arrest
WAVERLY, Fla. — A traffic stop on U.S. Highway 27 last month took an unusually candid turn when a 76-year-old driver allegedly told a Polk County deputy that his license was suspended for DUI, that he had been drinking, and then showed him the cup of rum he said he was drinking.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office identified the driver as Charles Ducking. Deputies say the September 17 stop began after they saw his Jeep swerving while heading south through Waverly.
A records check of the Jeep’s registered owner also turned up a suspended driver’s license tied to previous DUI arrests, the sheriff’s office said.
When the deputy walked up to the vehicle, according to the agency, he noted the smell of alcohol, along with Ducking’s slurred speech and watery eyes. Asked for his license, Ducking allegedly replied: “Well, I can’t show you my driver’s license cuz it’s suspended cuz DUI. And I have been drinking a little bit right now.”
Ducking then showed the deputy a silver thermal cup filled with a brown liquid and identified it as the rum he was drinking, the sheriff’s office said.
A second traffic deputy arrived to handle the DUI investigation and immediately recognized Ducking from a DUI arrest just four months earlier, authorities said.
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During a search of the Jeep, deputies said they found cocaine inside a small orange container. Ducking told them he had “done a line” of cocaine about 10 minutes earlier, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies say Ducking showed multiple signs of impairment during field sobriety tests. Breath samples later measured .094 and .095, above Florida’s .08 legal impairment threshold, the sheriff’s office said.
The recognition by the traffic deputy traced back to a May 22 arrest in Lake Wales. In that case, the sheriff’s office said Ducking’s breath-alcohol readings were .106 and .102. Polk County jail records confirm he was booked that day on a misdemeanor DUI charge and released May 25 after $250 bail was paid.
That May arrest was not Ducking’s first appearance in Polk County jail records. According to those records, there have been 10 separate bookings under his name and January 18, 1950 date of birth since 2001.
His earliest listed booking came September 9, 2001, when the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested him on a charge described in the jail record as second-offense DUI involving alcohol or drugs.
Ducking returned to the county jail in December 2001 and July 2002 on charges of driving with a suspended license, the records show. A December 2003 booking lists charges of driving with a suspended license, possession of cocaine, and possession or use of narcotic equipment. A January 2004 booking lists possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, drug paraphernalia, and second-offense driving with a suspended license.
The record continues with July and November 2007 bookings for driving with a suspended license as a habitual offender, followed by a 2016 booking on a felony battery charge and a 2024 booking for battery by touching or striking.
Those entries establish only the charges for which Ducking was booked. The information reviewed for this story does not show that he was ultimately convicted of each offense, and none of the older charges should be treated as convictions without court records establishing the outcome.
The September 2001 record is notable because it describes the charge as a second DUI offense, suggesting Polk County’s booking history references an earlier DUI before the online records reviewed for this story begin. In its current release, the sheriff’s office separately says Ducking has nine other Polk County arrests dating to 2001 and identifies that 2001 arrest as a DUI.
The sheriff’s office also says Ducking was arrested for DUI in Gadsden County in 2016. That case is separate from a June 2016 Polk County booking listed in the records reviewed for this story, which lists felony battery rather than DUI. The two 2016 incidents should not be treated as the same arrest.
Sheriff Grady Judd acknowledged Ducking’s cooperation during the latest traffic stop but sharply criticized the conduct deputies described. Judd said Ducking was fortunate he had not killed himself or someone else while driving, adding that he had “tempted fate too many times” and needed to make serious changes before it was too late.
Following the September 17 stop, Ducking was booked into the Polk County Jail on charges of fourth or subsequent DUI and possession of cocaine, both listed by the sheriff’s office as third-degree felonies. He also faces misdemeanor charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The latest charges bear some similarities to older entries in Ducking’s booking history, including the 2003 record that included cocaine and suspended-license charges. That comparison concerns only the charges recorded at booking, however, and does not establish the final disposition of those older criminal cases.
The case also highlights a recurring public-safety concern in repeat DUI allegations: a suspended license may not keep a driver off the road, and each new arrest can add to the legal exposure if charges are proven. The September charges, however, remain pending, and the sheriff’s office accounts are allegations that have not been resolved in court.
Ducking’s newest case now follows a Polk County booking history stretching back 25 years and a DUI arrest just four months earlier. The September charges remain pending. An arrest or jail booking is not a conviction, and the outcome of the pending case will be determined through court records and proceedings.
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