A Citrus County Sheriff's Office car is meant to educate drivers about drinking and driving.

  • 63-year-old Paul Wilkins charged with DUI after Saturday incident
  • Sheriff's Office car warning of drunk driving is hit by vehicle
  • No injuries, but damage reported to vehicle

But Saturday, a suspected drunk driver crashed into it.

The educational tool by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office is hard to miss. Half of it looks like a traditional police car, and the other half looks like a taxi. It's a working unit meant to remind everyone about their choices when drinking. Saturday, it came in handy.

"I actually had a friend of mine come up and say somebody just hit your car," Deputy Nacy Suto said. She drives the unique car.

Deputy Suto was helping with crowd control during Pirate Fest in Crystal River. While her car was parked in a median, with lights flashing, a driver that deputies say was drunk hit a unit right next to her, pushing it into her car. No one was hurt.

The other sheriff's car was badly damaged, but Deputy Suto's only had a few scratches.

"When I asked him if he'd been drinking he said yes. When I asked him how much, when he told me he didn't see the lights, he said quite a bit," Suto said.

She then took the driver to jail, with warnings about drinking and driving all around him.

"The irony was that he ended up going to jail in the back of the car that looks like a taxi. It's unfortunate," she explained.

The department hopes that when people see that car driving throughout the county they'll be reminded to make smart decisions.

"Chose to call a taxi, to ride home in the back of a taxi, rather than get stopped by the cop car and end up going to jail," Suto said.

The driver, 63-year-old Paul Wilkins, was charged with DUI and operating a vehicle in a careless or negligent manner.