An Ocala driver, who soiled her pants and registered a blood alcohol content level above the legal limit, is facing a charge of manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol after admitting to fatally rear-ending a 22-year-old mother’s motorcycle on I-75.
Melinda Yvonne Dillon, 35, was taken into custody early Sunday morning, March 22, in connection with an accident that took Jasmine Brown’s life.
Related posts
According to the Florida Highway Patrol’s arrest record, a corporal was called to investigate the crash shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.
When the corporal arrived, she made contact with Dillon, who was sitting in her vehicle’s front right passenger seat. After introducing himself and asking Dillon to describe the crash, the corporal noted a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from” Dillon’s breath, according to the report.
“Melinda had slurred speech and watery eyes, and I noticed that she had urinated in her pants,” according to the corporal’s report.
Dillon informed the corporal she was on her way to Marion Oaks to pick up her son while driving in I-75’s outside, southbound lane. She told the corporal that she collided with Brown’s motorcycle around mile marker 349.
Brown, according to Dillon, fell from the motorcycle and landed on the road. Dillon informed the corporal that she immediately pulled over and exited the vehicle to look for Brown.
According to Dillon, Brown was unresponsive and was hit by another vehicle.
During an interview with the corporal, Dillon stated that she had left an Ocala party where she had been drinking since 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21st.
According to the report, during a field sobriety test at an I-75 rest area, the corporal noticed that Dillon “performed poorly,” that her “normal faculties were impaired,” and that she had been “driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
A doctor at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital declared Brown dead at 10:02 p.m. Dillon was booked into Marion County Jail about 3:02 a.m. on Sunday, March 22. While in custody, she gave two breath tests to determine her breath alcohol content.
According to the arrest record, the samples yielded 0.093 g/210L and 0.085 g/210L. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08 g per 210 L.
According to jail records, Dillon is currently charged with vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, as well as DUI property or person damage. She is currently held without bond.
Brown leaves behind two daughters, Iris and Lilly. She was characterized as a loving and sympathetic mother who “loved the bike community” and “knew how to light up a fire in anyone’s heart.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Jasmine Brown’s family. Please consider making a gift.
Brown died less than an hour after another biker from Ocala died. Krystal Tison was tragically killed while riding northbound on US Highway 19 in Citrus County.
Anthony Michael MacAllister, 36, was killed less than 24 hours after the deadly accidents in Ocklawaha when a sport utility vehicle collided with him.
