WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — An 84-year-old woman spent Tuesday in jail after police said they warned her multiple times that she didn't have the proper paperwork to drive but did so anyway.
"Did you want to represent yourself or hire a private attorney to represent you?" a judge asked Maria Green during a Tuesday morning hearing.
"It's God and me, your honor."
"It's just you and God?" the judge said.
"Yes," Green said.
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The state said it revoked Green's driver's license earlier this year after she failed to submit a required medical report.
The Winter Garden Police Department said she has been warned and cited multiple times.
"Even the night of the arrest, two officers spoke to her ... and said that, 'You're not allowed to drive,'" Winter Garden police Lt. Scott Allen said. "She laughed it off, got in her car and drove away."
Police said Green was pulled over in 2010 for driving without a valid license. She told an officer who pulled her over that she had already been arrested twice.
"There have been multiple officers with this department (who) have had conversations with her, reached out to her family members to try and help out," Allen said. "I've talked to her myself."
Investigators said that in one incident, Green could not renew the decal on her license plate, so she took one from her mobile home and put it on her car.
Police said that earlier this year, Green refused to stop for them, leading them on a slow-speed chase through a parking lot.
They said she tried to keep officers from handcuffing her Monday evening.
"God bless you," Green told the judge during Tuesday's hearing upon learning she would be freed from jail. "I love you. I want to kiss you and hug you."
She was released from jail Tuesday evening, but she must call the courthouse weekly.
"They said, 'You're not supposed to be driving. Your license is suspended.' I said, 'Nobody can tell me why my license was suspended when I didn't have an accident,'" Green told Channel 9 on Wednesday. "So I drove and three cars followed me. And that night, they handcuffed me and put me in jail."
Green said she has no hard feelings about the arrest.
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"I'm just going to repeat what Jesus said: 'Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,'" she said.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Green lost her license after failing to submit a medical report.
Green said she doesn't want to go to jail again, so she will obey the law.
"I won't drive if they don't reinstate me, because I'll land in jail again," she said. "I do have common sense."
The Florida Highway Patrol said older drivers are often confused as to how they could lose their driving privileges when they have never had a crash or any other violations.