BROOKSVILLE
While at home Monday morning, Michael S. Vamos popped open a can of beer and chugged it in front of a sheriff's deputy, authorities said.
He wasn't under arrest and the deputy warned him to stay home because he appeared to be "very impaired at the time," according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
The same deputy encountered him about 90 minutes later – shortly before 4 a.m. – after responding to a disturbance call. Based on reports, the sheriff's office was called to 16080 Naples St. because someone was playing loud music and blowing the horn.
While deputies were responding, they received a follow-up call about residents in the area hearing something resembling a gunshot, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputy Nicole Stevens saw Vamos, 33, seated in his vehicle while the engine was running. She said Vamos seemed intoxicated and it appeared he was trying to drive off when she approached him.
Another deputy, William Cooper, came to the scene and Stevens told him about her first encounter with Vamos – one week earlier. Vamos had been arguing with another person in the area of Naples Street and threatened to come back for revenge, according to an arrest affidavit.
Stevens said she also told Cooper about seeing Vamos in his home drunk around 2:30 a.m. that same day.
Cooper started talking to Vamos, who was standing outside his vehicle. The suspect told him he had been drinking Busch beer from taller-sized cans. Cooper asked him how many cans he had consumed and Vamos said "plenty," according to the sheriff's office.
Vamos was told to perform a field-sobriety test and at one point, while the deputy was holding a pin in front of him to check his eye movement, the suspect tried to kiss the pin, Cooper said.
Vamos was handcuffed and escorted to the deputy cruiser by Cooper and another deputy, at which time he was pulling away and being belligerent, according to the affidavit.
After he arrived at the Hernando County Jail, an irate Vamos spat on Cooper, deputies said.
Vamos was charged with battery against a law enforcement officer, DUI, resisting arrest without violence and refusing to submit to a breathalyzer. He was held in lieu of $8,000 bail.
A few hours prior to Vamos' arrest, deputies had booked another DUI suspect at the jail.
David Arthur Dunnigan, 25, of 10126 Loretto St. in Spring Hill, was pulled over along Mariner Boulevard after a deputy noticed him speeding and driving erratically, according to reports.
Dunnigan told the arresting deputy he had consumed a total of six beers because he had been suspended from his job and was upset, authorities said.
He submitted to a breathalyzer and his blood-alcohol level was at .291 percent, according to an arrest affidavit.
The legal limit in Florida is .08 percent.
Dunnigan was charged with DUI with a .15 BAL or higher and was released on $500 bail later that day.
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