Martin County deputy charged with DUI placed on administrati
Martin County deputy charged with DUI placed on administrative leave
From TCpalm.com
Quote:
PALM CITY — A Martin County Sheriff's deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave following his Saturday morning DUI arrest, according to a Sheriff's Office news release issued Tuesday afternoon.
Deputies charged Kurt Abbott, 42, a former Florida Marlin's baseball player, with DUI after a Stuart Police officer stopped him about 3 a.m. Saturday at Martin Downs Boulevard and Waterfall Boulevard, according to arrest affidavit.
Abbott was a member of the 1997 World Series Marlins and 2000 National League champion New York Mets.
The police officer clocked Abbott traveling more than 60 mph in a 45 mph zone in the westbound lane of Martin Downs Boulevard and he was drifting out of his lane. The officer could smell alcohol coming from Abbott, whose speech was slurred and eyes appeared to be bloodshot, the affidavit states.
A Sheriff's Office deputy was called because the incident occurred in the Sheriff's Office jurisdiction.
Abbott declined field sobriety tests and later, at the Martin County Jail, he refused a breath test, cursing and yelling, the affidavit states. When a deputy read him the implied consent for a DUI charge, Abbott at first would not say if he understood the charge and then asked the deputy to read the instruction several times.
Later on Saturday he was released from the Martin County Jail on $500 bail.
Abbott, who receives an annual salary of $51,624 records show, will be on paid administrative leave pending the disposition of the case.
A review of Abbott's personnel file shows he has several commendations, including one in April 2006 for rescuing a resident trapped inside a burning building and another in April 2010 for helping nab Palm Beach Gardens car burglary suspects who fled into Martin County.
He started his law enforcement career after his baseball career ended abruptly with a busted Achilles tendon. He was hired by the Stuart Police Department in 2004 before moving on to the Sheriff's Office in 2006.
