A man who claimed to be a federal ICE agent from Miami was arrested on the Bahia Honda Bridge Wednesday afternoon, after a motorist called 911 to report a southbound pickup truck driving erratically on the Seven Mile Bridge and then going south in the northbound lanes after the bridge.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Col. Chad Scibilia and Deputy J. Lane stopped Scott Deiseroth, 42, on the Bahia Honda Bridge at mile marker 36.5. The sheriff’s office lists his occupation as an ICE agent.
Before pulling over the pickup truck, Scibilia “observed the reckless vehicle straddling the middle of the roadway, partially driving southbound in the northbound lane…, bouncing between the inside lane and the outside lane, swerving heavily,” states the arrest report.
Once the vehicle was stopped, authorities reported an “overwhelming” odor of alcohol, a driver with glassy eyes, who stumbled when he got out of the vehicle and whose two sons, ages 7 and 9, were in the truck with their inebriated father.
Deputies asked Deiseroth where he was coming from, and he said he had driven from Miami to Islamorada and was now on his way back to Miami, the report states.
“I informed Scott he was driving the wrong direction and he informed me that I was wrong,” Deputy Lane wrote. “I asked (Deiseroth) where he thinks he is and he began looking around (while sitting on top of the Bahia Honda Bridge) and said, ‘I’m on the stretch,’ referring to the (18-Mile Stretch) between Key Largo and Florida City.
“I informed Scott he was approximately 70 miles or so away from there and he again informed me that I was wrong,” the report states.
When asked what he had been drinking, Deiseroth reportedly became defensive and said that “he is a federal HSI agent with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and that he had four drinks,” the report states.
He couldn’t tell the officers what he had consumed, only saying that the bartender had made the drinks.
Deiseroth stumbled when exiting his pickup truck, then failed all roadside sobriety tests after asking the deputies for “professional courtesy” and asking them, “Really? Are we really doing this?” the report states.
He repeatedly resisted arrest and had to be forcibly placed in handcuffs and the backseat of a patrol car, where he began slamming his head on the Plexiglass partition and screaming Deputy Lane’s name.
The children in the pickup truck gave the officers their mother’s number and arrangements were made for deputies to take the kids to Islamorada, where they met with the mother and were handed over to her custody.
Deiseroth’s ICE supervisor was notified of his arrest when he arrived at the jail on Stock Island, where breathalyzer tests revealed a blood-alcohol level of .170 and .174 — more than twice the legal limit of ,08 in Florida.
“Due to (Deiseroth’s) level of impairment, he almost crashed multiple times and was unable to care for even himself,” the report states. “He willfully failed to provide both of his children with the care, supervision and services necessary to maintain their physical and mental health.
He must have known or reasonably should have known that his culpable negligence was likely to cause great bodily harm or death to both of his children. The Department of Children and Families was contacted and Deiseroth’s supervisor with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement was also notified of his arrest.”
Scott Deiseroth faces charges of Driving Under the Influence and Child Neglect. He has a hearing in front of Judge Mark Wilson on Aug. 21 at 9 a.m.
