Cape Coral DUI suspect hides in car wash after running from police, officers say

A Cape Coral man was arrested Wednesday night after being accused of drunk driving and attempting to escape police by hiding in a car wash.

According to the Cape Coral Police Department, officers responded to reports of a reckless driver near the 2400 block of Santa Barbara Boulevard South at around 11:28 p.m. Reports said that the driver of a silver Dodge Ram pickup truck was speeding and was possibly impaired.

Officers located the pickup truck in the parking lot of a McDonald's near the 800 block of Northeast Pine Island Road. The driver was speeding within the parking lot and ignoring multiple stop signs, CCPD said.

A traffic stop was initiated on the pickup truck in the parking lot of a Walgreens, but the driver, identified as Shaheem Preston, 29, got out of the truck and ran from officers, CCPD said.

Officers found Preston hiding at a nearby car wash, CCPD said. Preston was lying on the ground beneath the car wash machinery, attempting to hide.

Preston was taken into custody, and during the investigation, officers noticed he had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, and smelled like alcohol, CCPD said. Preston refused to undergo DUI testing.

Preston was driving on a suspended license, officers said, and a search of his vehicle yielded open and unopened small liquor bottles, according to CCPD.

Preston was arrested and faces charges of DUI, refusal to submit to DUI testing, driving with a suspended license, resisting officers without violence, and careless driving.