JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department employee has been suspended pending termination after she was arrested for the third time in 14 months, a JFRD spokesperson confirmed to News4JAX.
Mariah Carter, 32, was charged with DUI on April 20 in St. Johns County, nearly a year after she faced the same charge in Jacksonville.
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Carter was then charged on July 2 with battery on a person 65 or older after officers said she pushed her mother into a wall and threw a stool at her during an altercation while she was intoxicated.
Carter was still listed as a JFRD employee on her July arrest report. News4JAX has reached out to the department to learn her current status.
According to her arrest reports, Carter’s second DUI charge stemmed from an incident at 8 a.m. April 20 when a deputy spotted her black Toyota Corolla speeding on U.S. 1 near Racetrack Road. The deputy clocked her going 80 mph in a 55 mph zone and then speeding up to 115 mph as she approached the red light at the County Road 210 alternate, the report said.
The deputy said Carter slammed to a stop in the middle of the intersection at the red light and then reversed.
That’s when the deputy pulled her over, and Carter failed a field sobriety test, the report said. The deputy reported finding a fruity alcoholic beverage in a metal cup with no lid sitting on the rear passenger seat floorboard covered with a pair of pants.
Carter refused to provide a breath sample and was arrested on a DUI charge.
Carter’s July arrest stemmed from an incident that began when police said Carter called 911 around 2:45 a.m. on July 2 to say her mother had threatened to take her own life.
When police arrived, they found Carter intoxicated and determined that her mother was not a candidate for the Baker Act.
The officers left, and, according to the report, Carter called 911 again, demanding that they send different officers to her home.
The same officers returned to the home, and Carter was belligerent and cursed at them, the report said.
As the officers were walking away for the second time, the report said, they heard yelling and items being thrown, then they went back and heard someone yell “you can get out.” They said Carter’s mom tried to run out through the door, telling officers that Carter had pushed her into a wall and threw a stool at her.
The report said Carter’s mother did not have visible injuries at the time of the incident, but she complained that her ribs and back hurt and that she was short of breath.
Carter was detained and charged with battery on a person 65 years or older and resisting an officer without violence.
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