A sales representative for Properties of The Villages is seeking to have evidence suppressed in her drunk driving case, arguing a deputy unlawfully ordered her out of her vehicle.
Jordyn Rottermond, 33, was arrested at about 2 a.m. Feb. 27 after a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy found her asleep behind the wheel of a white Jeep SUV in the median of State Road 44 west of Wildwood. She told the deputy she had been at a “work ceremony” at Brownwood earlier in the evening where she was presented with a performance award.
This past week, Rottermond’s attorney, Michael J. Barbarette, filed a motion in Sumter County Court to suppress all evidence gathered from the moment the deputy demanded she open her car door. The motion argues that the officer lacked the legally required “well-founded suspicion” of criminal activity to force her to roll down her window or exit the vehicle.
According to the motion, the entire incident was captured on the deputy’s body camera. When the deputy approached the SUV, the engine was running, the windows were up, and the doors were locked. He knocked on the window and tried to open the door. About 15 seconds later, he radioed that “she just sat up and leaned over” and confirmed she was “awake and breathing.”…