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Florida man arrested for 'joyride' across jail lawn

Security cameras were recording when Michael Lee Roberts hit a bench, drove around the lawn and hit a flag pole at the Hernando County Detention Center.

By Ben Hooper
Michael Lee Roberts, 31, takes a "joyride" on the lawn at the Hernando County Detention Center in Florida. HernandoCounty Sheriff/YouTube video screenshot
Michael Lee Roberts, 31, takes a "joyride" on the lawn at the Hernando County Detention Center in Florida. HernandoCounty Sheriff/YouTube video screenshot

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BROOKSVILLE, Fla., July 29 (UPI) -- A man who refused to correct his substandard parking job at a Florida jail ended up as an inmate when he decided to take his SUV for a "joyride" across the lawn.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office said in a news release accompanying a YouTube video of the incident that Michael Lee Roberts, 31, was defiant Monday evening when Sgt. Steven Wegner told him he couldn't park his sport-utility vehicle on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance of the Hernando County Detention Center.

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Wegner escorted Roberts outside, where the motorist again refused to move the vehicle.

The release said Roberts got into his SUV when a second deputy approached to tell him to move the vehicle, but instead of parking, he backed down the walkway into a bench and then sped forward onto the jail's landscaped lawn.

"Roberts suddenly turned the vehicle around and headed back toward the building, in the grass, and took aim at the deputy's patrol car. At the last minute, Roberts abruptly turned to the left, continuing in a full circle, striking the flag pole," sheriff's office spokeswoman Denise Moloney said in the release.

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Roberts was ordered out of the vehicle and was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence. He was ordered held in lieu of $4,000 bond.

The sheriff's release did not say why Roberts had come to the jail Monday.

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