High Springs man arrested for second DUI in a little over a month

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jason Michael Hemphill, 42, of High Springs, was arrested yesterday for allegedly driving under the influence, hitting other cars and crashing into a fence; he was previously arrested on August 30 in Bradford County on a DUI charge.

At about 5:39 p.m. on October 1, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies and a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper responded to a crash near the intersection of NW 23rd Avenue and NW 63rd Terrace. The trooper reported that a black pickup truck had crashed into a wooden fence and the driver, later identified as Hemphill, appeared to be “very impaired” and was having trouble standing up. The trooper also noted that Hemphill’s driver’s license had been suspended since August 30.

Two witnesses reportedly told the trooper that they had seen Hemphill behind the wheel of a pickup truck that had crashed into their cars before hitting the fence.

The trooper reported that Hemphill spontaneously stated that he didn’t know what was going on and couldn’t remember much about a crash. The trooper noted that he could smell alcohol on Hemphill’s breath, he had slurred speech, and his eyes were “extremely bloodshot and glassy.”

Post Miranda, Hemphill reportedly declined to answer questions. He consented to doing field sobriety exercises, but the trooper reported that he could only perform the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, on which he performed poorly, because he was unable to stand on his own.

At the jail, Hemphill reportedly provided breath samples of 0.172 and 0.177, more than double the legal limit of 0.08. The trooper noted that the breath samples were provided almost two hours after the crash.

Hemphill has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with property damage, and driving with a suspended license. He has one felony conviction and five misdemeanor convictions (one violent). He was arrested in 2014 for leaving the scene of a crash with serious injury after hitting and seriously injuring a cyclist and driving away without rendering aid; he entered a plea of nolo contendere and was sentenced to one year of house arrest, followed by two years of probation, with adjudication of guilt withheld. In 2023, he was arrested for stalking a manager at a former job, entered a plea of nolo contendere, and was sentenced to a year of probation. He is currently on pre-trial release following a DUI arrest in Bradford County on August 30, 2025; one of the conditions of his release is, “Do not possess/consume/use alcohol or illegal drugs.”

Judge Jonathan Ramsey set bail at $30,000.

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.