BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE—A Clay County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant has been arrested for driving under the influence for the second time within 10 months.
Christopher Coldiron was arrested for DUI on Friday, Oct. 14, by FHP troopers.
In July, Coldiron, 48, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and two days served for the Dec. 29, 2021, offense of DUI. The state dropped additional charges of DUI with property damage and failure to yield.
FHP troopers reported that last Friday, the defendant drove his truck into a Blanding Boulevard ditch. When they arrived on the scene, Coldiron appeared impaired. When he refused to take a field sobriety test, they arrested him.
According to an arrest report for the December DUI, the Lawtey resident ran a stop sign in Bradford County and collided with another vehicle. No one was injured in the crash.
The trooper reported that Coldiron claimed he had just left a Starke bar and had consumed “about 6 beers and a shot of Crown Apple.”
The trooper wrote that based on the results of standardized field sobriety exercises, he arrested Coldiron for DUI.
He added that the defendant refused to provide a breath sample.
“It should be noted, on multiple occasions,” the arresting officer concluded, “Mr. Coldiron spontaneously uttered ‘I’m (expletive deleted)’ and ‘my career is over.’”
On Monday, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said the agency fired Coldiron.
