Rev. Joseph Waters, pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Temple Terrace, has been arrested for DUI. At the time of his arrest at 2:30am he was driving on US 301 south of Riverview.
At the time he was stopped by Hillsborough County Sheriff's officers, Waters refused a breathalyzer and was booked into the Orient Road jail.
Waters is the former vice rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. He has held various positions with the Diocese of St. Petersburg including Director of the Office of Worship.
As I've stated in this blog before, Fr. Waters did the right thing by refusing the breathalyzer, a notoriously inaccurate measure of one's impairment. As far as a field sobriety test, it's not clear from news reports if one was administered to Waters. That's a normal part of a DUI stop so I would imagine he failed the field sobriety. However, that is not clear evidence that Waters was indeed impaired at the time of the traffic stop. If he was tired, taking medication, has any physical impairment, these factors would affect his ability to perform the field sobriety in a satisfactory fashion. Even the spot in which Fr. Waters was asked to take the field sobriety may come into play in his defense. For instance, if the ground was not level, his balance and coordination may be affected.
These are all factors of an aggressive DUI defense.
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