Shirtless driver accused of DUI after crashing near Cape Coral canal and disappearing

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

A man was arrested on DUI charges Sunday after his vehicle swerved off a Cape Coral road, hitting a mailbox before crashing into bushes.

Cape Coral police officers were called to the 2000 block of NE 34th Lane after witnesses reported seeing a man exit his vehicle and disappear around the driver's side before they heard a splash in a nearby canal, believing he had gone in.

Officers said they found the vehicle had crashed into the bushes with front-end damage and a damaged passenger-side windshield. According to the Cape Coral Police Department, fresh slide marks were visible in the dirt along the embankment leading to the canal.

A witness told officers that they saw the driver was not wearing a shirt and was in blue shorts. A neighbor on the opposite side of the canal flagged down an officer and reported seeing a man who fit that description, and appeared to be wet and ran toward the woods.

CCPD said the officer located the individual at the intersection of NE 34th Terrace and NE 20th Lane. He was identified as Jacob Blasses, 36, and officers said he was found shirtless and wearing wet blue shorts. Officers also stated that Blasses had scratches on his legs, a large scrape on his back, and a cut on his left forearm consistent with moving through brush along the embankment.

According to CCPD, Blasses had slurred speech, bloodshot, watery, glassy eyes, and was having trouble maintaining his balance. A witness also identified him as the driver of the crashed vehicle, CCPD said.

Lee County Emergency Medical Services personnel treated him on the scene for his lacerations.

Officers stated Blasses swerved off the roadway, struck a mailbox, and crashed into the bushes near the canal. CCPD said a video showed the vehicle struck the mailbox with the passenger-side front windshield, causing the damage that officers noticed when they arrived at the scene. The mailbox hit a vehicle parked in a driveway, causing minor damage.

Blasses agreed to provide a breath sample, which returned results of .219 and .209, according to CCPD. The legal blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in Florida is 0.08%.

Inside Blasses' vehicle, officers reportedly found an empty Smirnoff vodka bottle under the passenger seat, an empty Tito's vodka bottle on the passenger floorboard, and a BeatBox (11% alcohol) behind the driver's seat.

Blasses was taken to the Lee County Jail and is facing one count of DUI (0.15 or higher), one count of hit-and-run, and two counts of DUI with property damage.

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