Staff report
NEWBERRY, Fla. – Mason Luke Gleeson, aged 23, was taken into custody yesterday after allegedly colliding with two occupied vehicles in a parking area while under the influence of alcohol. He refused to sign four issued citations and also declined to undergo DUI tests.
Around 7:30 p.m. on October 10, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy was called to the Jonesville McDonald’s parking lot (14124 W. Newberry Road). Eyewitnesses reported that a white male, driving a dark sedan with an Oklahoma license plate, hit two cars before leaving the scene and moving west through the Publix parking area towards NW 143rd Street. Both vehicles sustained damage, and one individual claimed to have suffered a back injury.
Deputies later located the sedan in the Somerset neighborhood, exhibiting significant front and side damage. Gleeson was then detained, and a victim successfully identified him as the sedan’s driver.
Claiming he wasn’t behind the wheel, Gleeson denied driving the car, and after being read his rights, reiterated his claim and refused to take part in field sobriety assessments.
The deputy observed that Gleeson had bloodshot eyes and struggled to keep his balance without leaning against a patrol car. Additionally, the deputy detected the odor of alcohol on Gleeson’s breath. Gleeson allegedly attempted to resist the deputies’ hold.
An inspection of the sedan reportedly uncovered two 99 Bananas mini-bottles and a shot glass in the center console, as well as a 24-ounce bottle of Modelo Chelada on the rear floor of the vehicle.
In the patrol vehicle, Gleeson reportedly pulled on the door handles and said multiple times that his insurance would pay for any damages. At the jail, after he’d been read his Miranda warning but without being questioned, he reportedly said he knew he’d left the scene of a crash he caused.
Gleeson has been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a crash involving bodily injury, DUI with property damage and/or injury, resisting an officer without violence, driving under the influence (DUI), DUI with refusal to submit to testing, and four counts of refusing to sign a citation. He has no local criminal history; Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard set bail at $196,500.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
