PALM BAY, Fla. – A Brevard County woman faces DUI charges after deputies said she ran over and killed her husband with their vehicle while the two were looking for their lost dog.
Palm Bay police said they responded to a home on Dittmer Circle SE around 9:40 p.m. Friday after receiving a report of a possible hit-and-run crash.
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A 911 caller reported that a man was lying in the road, bleeding from the head and unresponsive in front of the home.
According to an arrest report, a person at the scene stated that a Honda Ridgeline SUV was stopped in the road, and a woman identified as Sally Gore was standing in front of the vehicle. The caller told police that the smell of alcohol was detected on Gore, who drove to look “for their dog which they believed had ran away.”
Police said when they arrived at the scene, they observed the body of Gore’s husband lying in the road, adjacent to the couple’s driveway. He was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Officers noted that the victim’s body had impact marks consistent with the edge of a vehicle, and the rear tailgate of the SUV had markings consistent with an impact and the undercarriage was freshly disturbed.
According to the report, when investigators spoke with Gore, they could smell a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and her speech was slurred.
She told officers that after arriving home from dinner and pulling into their driveway, the couple noticed their front gate was open. They both believed their dog, who had a history of getting out, had escaped.
Police said she told them them that they both agreed her husband would exit the vehicle and search for the dog while she would remain in the vehicle to look for the animal.
A short time after her husband exited the vehicle, she told police that she backed out of the driveway and drove north to search for the dog. After driving around the block, she returned home and was stopped by a woman and “observed a body in the street,” officers said.
According to the report, she recognized the body as her husband and said she was not aware of any impact with him as she drove to search for the dog.
Police said she appeared unsteady on her feet, continued to slur her words and her eyes were watery and bloodshot. She told police she had two glasses of wine at dinner.
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After failing several field sobriety tests, Gore agreed to a breath test that returned a BAC reading of 0.120, above the legal limit of 0.08 to drive in Florida.
According to the report, officers were able to obtain video that showed the woman driving past a community center while shouting for her dog. Police said based on the evidence, they believe Sally Gore was driving the vehicle that “impacted her husband after he exited the vehicle and she began backing, and the impact caused fatal injuries to her husband.”
Gore was placed under arrest and faces charges of of DUI causing death and DUI.
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