ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Former St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar was let go with a warning after St. Augustine Beach Police (SABP) said he ran a red light and was found with marijuana in his SUV last week.
Shoar, who was the longtime St. Augustine Police Chief and served as St. Johns County Sheriff for 16 years, was pulled over near the intersection of Pope Road and A1A Beach Blvd. around 9 p.m. on Dec. 15 after he failed to stop at a red light while turning, SABP said.
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The officer who pulled Shoar over said even before the traffic stop, they could smell marijuana coming from Shoar’s Ford Explorer. When the officer approached the vehicle, the officer said they noticed pieces of marijuana on the center console and smelled “burnt marijuana” coming from the vehicle.
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The officer had Shoar get out of the SUV and during a search, the officer said they found three joints that totaled eight grams. Shoar showed the officer his medical marijuana card, according to the report, but the marijuana he had was not in its original packaging and “had been used inside of the vehicle,” according to the report.
The marijuana was confiscated by the officer and destroyed.
According to a police call log, the officer also noted there were two guns in Shoar’s SUV.
The report does not mention if any driver impairment tests were done on Shoar, but SABP said “No driver impairment was detected during the interview/investigation.”
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“SABPD officers conducted a thorough investigation adhering to agency policy and standard operating procedures,” SABP said in a statement.
SABP said it is also common for qualified people to be given a warning when they are found with medical marijuana in their car.
In Florida, driving under the influence of marijuana is just as illegal as driving under the influence of alcohol and patients are not permitted to operate any vehicle while under the influence of medical marijuana.
Florida law says possessing a medical marijuana card “does not exempt a person from prosecution for a criminal offense related to impairment or intoxication resulting from the medical use of marijuana or relieve a person from any requirement under law to submit to a breath, blood, urine, or other test to detect the presence of a controlled substance.”