This Is Fine: Drunk Florida Man Tries To Drive Burning Car With Woman Inside – Jalopnik

If your car catches fire, chances are you want to put as much distance between you and the fire as possible as quickly as possible. But it wasn’t one particular man from Florida who decided this is fine and continued driving until flames engulfed the car WESH. Even worse, his wife was along for the ride.

WFLA reports that a witness saw smoke coming from under a vehicle when it stopped. The witness stopped to help, but the car drove away and flames began to appear. The car stopped again and then inexplicably drove away a second time while still burning. This is the exact opposite of how you should handle a car fire. Eventually the burning car came to a stop, probably only after it simply didn’t want to drive anymore.

The driver, Patrick Rinaldi, escaped the burning car and reportedly barely managed to get his wife out. We don’t know if any of them were injured in the fire, which also started a forest fire. Brevard County Fire Rescue was already responding when the sheriff’s office arrived on scene.

He said he had only had one beer before, but there was a bottle of liquor on the floor of the car, which in our work is called a clue!!

Rinaldi reportedly failed a field sobriety test and subsequently refused to take a breathalyzer test. This has some pretty serious consequences in Florida.

As a result of his actions, Rinaldi was charged with DUI and refusal to register and subsequently took a ride in our Courtesy Shuttle to Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge where he immediately became habitable!! He also received a newish pair of shower slides, one size fits all striped pajamas, an all-inclusive pass to the communal showers, and of course reservations in our one star dining room!!

Under a recently enacted law, refusal to file means up to 60 days in jail and a possible $500 fine, assuming this is his first offense. It also means a mandatory driver’s license suspension for 12 months, regardless of whether he has been convicted of drink driving or not. Either way, it looks like Rinaldi will be off the streets for a while, and not just because he tried to pilot a rolling fireball. To remind, only you can prevent forest fires.