Judge tosses charges against sleepy driver

MANATEE -- A Manatee County judge tossed out obstruction charges Friday against a man who was arrested while napping in his car after he was in a minor accident and ordered not to drive by a state trooper.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office used a SWAT team, canine unit and even a helicopter to approach the sleepy driver, break his window and then pull him out of his car after he failed to comply with their demands.

By all accounts, Joseph Wood Jr. was not having a good morning Feb. 8.

He’d been up the night before arguing with his girlfriend. He was tired, and then he got into a car accident.

Wood rear-ended a 2011 Chevrolet Impala with his 1996 Cadillac Seville at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Cortez Road.

The accident was his fault, he admits. He was sleepy and not paying attention.

The damage was minor, but the other car was a rental and its driver insisted on calling police.

Florida Highway Patrol Trooper B.A Fitzpatrick cited Wood for careless driving, a common charge for a rear-end collision.

But the trooper noticed something else about Wood.

“I fell asleep twice while he was writing the ticket and doing the report,” Wood said.

He told the trooper about his late night, and that he was taking strong pain medication -- prescribed by his doctor -- for a pinched nerve in his neck and back pain he sustained when he was rear-ended in another accident.

“He told me not to drive. He told me to park my car and call a ride,” Wood said.

Wood called a friend who said he’d pick him up in an hour.

He parked his Cadillac in the Rooms to Go parking lot, and walked over to Panera Bread to buy a bagel.

Halfway to the restaurant, he realized he’d left his debit card in his car, so he walked back to retrieve it.

Once inside the car, Wood’s plans changed.

“I turned the radio up, tilted the seat back and went to sleep,” he said.

Unbeknownst to Wood, he was being observed by Manatee County Deputy Thomas Franklin who, according to his arrest report, saw that Wood was wearing a “black knit cap pulled down low as to cover the top of his face, black hoodie, and dark-colored pants.”

Franklin saw Woods walking and then noted he “quickly turned the opposite direction and walked toward Rooms to Go.”

“Based on this suspicious activity, I requested back up,” Franklin wrote in his report.

Franklin tried to hail Wood 15 to 20 times on his public address system.

“I was asleep,” Wood said. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“I contacted road supervisor who had some members from the SWAT team respond with shields because we were not going to approach for officer safety,” Franklin explained in his report.

The SWAT officers arrived minutes later.

Their actions were videotaped by a community service officer.

The officers can be seen milling around the car carrying Body Bunkers -- bulletproof shields. They look in the windshield and start tapping on the glass.