FHP: Man drove car into deputy's home

Test showed Rodney Troy Whitley had a blood alcohol level of 0.140

Rodney Troy Whitley
BKaren Voyles

The Gainesville Sun
Staff writer

Published: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.

A Gilchrist County man accused of driving his car through a fence and into a deputy's concrete block home was charged with DUI.

Rodney Troy Whitley, 40, was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol after the 1:26 a.m. incident north of Bell in northern Gilchrist County.

According to FHP, the white minivan Whitley had been driving wound up embedded on the north side of a home built with concrete blocks and owned by a Gilchrist County deputy and her husband.

The deputy told FHP that they heard a loud noise and then saw that the minivan had come through their bedroom wall. The couple went outside and found Whitley behind the wheel of the minivan, according to Gilchrist County Sheriff's Major Tony Smith. The deputy was not injured, but her husband required stitches due to cuts from flying debris, Smith said.

Whitley reportedly told an FHP trooper that he lost control of the minivan while answering a text message on his cell phone.

After a breath test determined Whitley's blood alcohol level was 0.140, above the legal limit of 0.08, he was arrested on the DUI charge and booked into the Gilchrist County jail.