KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Update: Samantha Lopez was fired in early June
Previous story:
Kissimmee firefighter was arrested last week on charges that she was driving with a blood-alcohol concentration twice the legal limit with her 3-year-old daughter in the car, Mount Dora police said.
It was the second time that firefighter/EMT Samantha Jean Lopez had been charged within a month.
According to the Eustis Police Department, Lopez was first arrested on March 24 after a rear-end crash on U.S. Highway 441.
Lopez told officers at the scene that she was on her way to pick up her child and had to be there by 1 p.m.
The crash was reported at about 3:15 p.m.
When investigators gave her a Breathalyzer test, results showed that her BAC was about .20 percent, more than twice the legal limit in Florida of .08 percent.
Lopez was arrested again April 26 on a charge of DUI at a Walmart on State Road 500 in Mount Dora, an arrest report said.
A Eustis police officer reported seeing Lopez driving erratically and “nearly causing several collisions,” a Mount Dora police report said.
Lopez’s car pulled into the Walmart parking lot, where she was approached by the Eustis officer, who noted that a child, later identified as her 3-year-old daughter, was in the vehicle.
After she took another Breathalyzer test, Lopez’s BAC was found to be about .18 percent.
Officers reported finding two small empty bottles of Sutter Home wine in Lopez’s car, along with two unopened bottles.
In the time between her first and second arrests, the Kissimmee Fire Department said Lopez was allowed to continue to perform her duties as a firefighter/EMT.
No information was immediately available on what, if any, disciplinary action would be taken after her second DUI arrest.