A Florida woman was arrested Saturday and charged with DUI and reckless driving after driving a vehicle down a crowded Smyrna Dunes Park beach, police say.
Witnesses told officers that the vehicle driven by Sarah Ramswammy, 26, of Orlando, nearly struck beach-goers before it ended up in the water.
Ramswammy registered a 0.153 blood alcohol concentration, above the state’s 0.08 legal limit, and was also cited for failure to obey a traffic control device, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
Bodycam and other video from the scene showed a blue SUV in the ocean with several people swimming near it. Witnesses reported the SUV hitting 50 mph and nearly striking a girl, the sheriff’s office said.
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“I was the driver, and they kind of stopped us, and they said that we almost hit a child,” Ramswammy told an officer on bodycam video. “I didn’t think that we did, but that’s what they told us.”
An officer beach-goers standing next to a stalled car on the beach after a woman recklessly drove toward the crowd in Smyrna Dunes Park, Florida. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office/BODY CAMS+/TMX)
Ramswammy and another woman who had been in the car told officers they were driving from New Smyrna and were trying to “turn around.”
“We didn’t think that we could do a U-turn around here, so we basically just tried to keep going,” Ramswammy said.
The officer then turns his body to face the car in the water. He proceeds to ask Ramswammy for her license, to which she responds she has it on her phone that is in that car.
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“I would get your phone out of there,” he said. “Your car is not going to be moving for a while.” He then gives her the green light to retrieve her phone and license from the vehicle.
Bodycam still of an SUV on the beach after a woman drove into a crown in Smyrna Dunes Park, Florida. (Volusia Sheriff’s Office/BODY CAMS+ /TMX)
Helicopter footage showed Ramswammy approaching her car as officers look on. She is then seen handing the officer her license.
“She’s going to go to jail, OK?” the officer told Ramswammy’s companion.
“No,” the woman said, stepping back.
An officer beach-goers standing next to a stalled car on the beach after a woman wrecklessly drove toward the crowd in Smyrna Dunes Park, Florida. (Volusia Sheriff’s Office/BODY CAMS+/TMX)
Ramswammy asked the officer why she is going to jail, to which he responds she was found to have been driving under the influence. The other woman was seen getting emotional as Ramswammy was handcuffed.
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Eyewitnesses said Ramswammy was driving her car at 50 mph, with one woman saying she almost took out a little girl.
Fox News’ Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
