GROVELAND, Florida—A Groveland man is behind bars accused of DUI for the second time in a week and the fourth time since 2021.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday, Groveland Police Department responded to the area of State Road 50 and State Road 33 on a report of man leaving a residence drunk. The complainant told GPD what the man was driving and that he had been arrested the week before for DUI. An officer spotted the red Hyundai Daniel Joseph Smrekar, 59, was driving leaving a nearby gas station and began following it.
The Hyundai had faulty brake lights and was missing its front bumper; when GPD ran the tag, the officer found Smrekar, the registered owner, had a suspended driver license and was wanted for a bond revocation, according to an arrest affidavit.
GPD initiated a traffic stop near Michigan Avenue and Beach Street and Smrekar came to a final stop in the driveway of his home on Beach Street. Smrekar, who had glassy, watery, bloodshot eyes, agreed to field sobriety exercises and was unsteady on his feet, the arresting officer noted. The officer believed Smrekar was drunk, and he was arrested and taken to the police department where he refused to submit to a breath test.
This was Smrekar’s second arrest for DUI in a week and fourth since 2021. He was arrested for DUI on July 23 and in August 2022 by GPD, and in 2021 by Clermont Police Department.
He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on no bond due to the bond revocation for the 2022 DUI.
