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Golf cart driver arrested for OVWI

A Greenwood man who’d been camping near Odon admitted he’d been drinking all day last Sunday before he drove a golf cart on US 231 to go get pizza at Hasler’s Junction in Greene County. He wound up in the Greene County Jail.

Robert Dale Surface

Robert Dale Surface, 52, Greenwood, was arrested by Indiana State Police Master Trooper Jarrod Lents from the ISP Jasper Post on Sunday night, June 27.

Around 8:17 p.m. Sunday, Trooper Lents was dispatched to a residence on US 231 in Daviess County after the residents reported two men on a golf cart had stopped at their mailbox and opened it, then left and headed north on US 231.

Trooper Lents did not locate the golf cart at first so he headed north into Greene County to check the gas station at US 231 and I-69. A little south of SR 58 and I-69, on US 231, he saw that Deputy Michael Coy of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department had the golf cart pulled over. Deputy Coy said the two men were the ones who opened the mailbox. He also said the driver of the golf cart had been drinking.

Trooper Lents reported a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was coming from the driver, Robert Surface, whenever Surface was talking, and Surface allegedly admitted he had been drinking all day. Surface said they were camping at a dirt bike track near Odon and were going to Hasler’s Junction to get pizza. He said they opened the mailbox as a joke but there was nothing inside.

Surface did not do well on standard field sobriety tests and he agreed to take a certified chemical breath test. He was transported to the Greene County Sheriff’s Department where the results of the test showed he had a BAC of .13. The legal limit is .08.

A citation was issued to Surface for operating a golf cart on the highway and he was booked into the Greene County Jail on preliminary charges of:

  • Operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor,

  • Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor, and

  • Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .08 but less than .15, a Class C misdemeanor.

His bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He posted $400 and was released on June 28 and will be scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing.