Hawthorne man arrested for DUI with property damage in Newberry

Staff report

NEWBERRY, Fla. – Andrew William Martone, 34, of Hawthorne, was arrested last night after allegedly hitting mailboxes while driving under the influence and leaving the scene after causing property damage after his car allegedly ended up in the front yard of a residence in Newberry.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded at 1:13 a.m. this morning to a call about a potentially intoxicated driver who had driven into the caller’s front yard in the 25500 block of NW 4th Avenue. The deputy reported that Martone was leaning on his vehicle when he arrived and that he walked unsteadily and had slurred speech. Martone reportedly told the deputy he was a driver for Door Dash and that he thought he was only a few miles away from the Grove Park area, which is between Gainesville and Hawthorne, about 27 miles away from his actual location. He reportedly insisted that he was delivering an order to the residents of the Newberry house and that they had denied ordering Door Dash. Martone reportedly gave two non-existent addresses to the deputy when asked for his own address.

Martone reportedly agreed to do Field Sobriety Exercises but then changed his mind and refused to perform them. The deputy then arrested him for driving under the influence.

Further investigation led the deputy to charge Martone with hitting mailboxes a few blocks away from where the deputy made contact with him; camera footage from a residence in the 100 block of NW 257th Street, where the mailboxes had been hit, reportedly showed a car driving without headlights on the sidewalk at about 12:53 a.m.

Martone has been charged with DUI, DUI with property damage, and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage. He has one misdemeanor conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia, and he is on pre-trial release status from an arrest last October in which he was initially charged with domestic battery and resisting arrest; the domestic battery charge has been dropped. He is required to live without violating the law as a condition of his pre-trial release. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail in the current case at $55,000 and ordered that he be fitted with a Transdermal Alcohol Monitor.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.