A speeding driver with a cooler of Coronas was arrested on a drunk driving charge.
Jatsiel Lopez Melendez, 30, of Ocala, was driving a white Dodge Ram at about 5 p.m. Tuesday on State Road 44 leaving Citrus County and heading toward Wildwood when he was paced traveling at 77 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
During a traffic stop, the deputy immediately suspected that Lopez Melendez, who “spoke minimal English,” had been drinking.
There was a red-and-white cooler in the back seat of the vehicle and the deputy asked Lopez Melendez to lift the cooler’s lid. When he lifted it, it revealed “multiple empty bottles of Corona beer.” There were also four unopened beer bottles in the cooler and two partially filled bottles in the cab. Lopez Melendez indicated he and a passenger were on their way home from work…