Joshua Slieff released from jail Nov. 7 on total bond of $251,000
The State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial Circuit has upgraded a charge against a 31-year-old man in connection with an Oct. 23 traffic crash at the intersection of Fruitville Road and Tuttle Avenue, the Sarasota Police Department has announced.
Originally, Joshua Adam Slieff, of 7125 Fruitville Road, Unit 951, in Sarasota, was charged with DUI Manslaughter (a felony), DUI with Serious Bodily Injury (a felony), and refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test, the Police Department reported in late October.
Subsequently, the driver of the vehicle that Slieff struck died, a Police Department news release said. Therefore, the charge of DUI with Serious Bodily Injury has been changed to another count of DUI Manslaughter, the release noted.
The original Probable Cause Affidavit for Slieff, in regard to the initial DUI Manslaughter charge, explained that Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Kenneth Seaton stated that Slieff was in a 2021 Jeep when he “crashed into the rear of a Toyota sedan at a high rate of speed” on Oct. 23.
Slieff was released from the Sarasota County Jail on Nov. 7 on total bond of $251,000 bond, his Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division record shows. Of that amount, $250,000 was for the DUI Manslaughter counts.
On Oct. 29, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show, he pleaded “Not Guilty” to the original charges and demanded a jury trial.
The police officer who handled the Probable Cause Affidavit wrote that he talked with Slieff as the officer investigating the crash finished his work on the scene. “Joshua had red watery eyes, thick slurred speech, droopy eyelids, was unsteady on his feet, and when he spoke an odor of alcoholic beverage came from his breath,” the officer wrote in the affidavit.
Slieff told that officer that he was heading from downtown Sarasota at the time of the crash. He also said that he had visited “ ‘several establishments,’ the most recent [of which] was Cask and Ale,” the affidavit continued. “Joshua told me that he had a ‘variety of beverages,’ ” the officer added in the affidavit.
After making those statements, the affidavit noted, Slieff “asked for a lawyer.”
A medic on an EMS unit collected a sample of Slieff’s blood at the scene at 1:14 a.m. on Oct. 24, the affidavit said, following the execution of a search warrant on the basis of the death of the passenger in the Toyota and the serious injuries that the driver had sustained.
After the blood was taken, the affidavit added, Slieff was “transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital [SMH] to be medically cleared for jail.”
While the officer who wrote the affidavit narrative was at the hospital, the affidavit continued, an SMH staff member advised the officer “that the driver was likely going to die as well.”
When Slieff was booked into the jail, the affidavit noted, he had inside his wallet a receipt from Brewster’s Gastropub, which is located at 1454 Main St. in Sarasota. The receipt showed that he had purchased alcoholic beverages costing a total of $80.75, the affidavit said. The receipt listed two Corona Extras, one vodka mule, one Captain Morgan’s, one Leinenkugel Shandy, and one Long Island iced tea, the affidavit added.
The Sarasota Police Department’s Traffic Unit is still investigating the crash, the latest news release added. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department at 941-263-6025.