The mayor of Naples, Florida, Teresa Heitmann, was arrested late Wednesday night after authorities said she was driving under the influence of an intoxicating substance, the Naples Police Department confirmed.
Heitmann faces one count of DUI with unlawful blood alcohol content of 0.15 or higher, according to her arrest record.
The incident unfolded just before 10 p.m. on Wednesday. NPD officers responded to a call from a man who said an unknown woman driving a silver vehicle had followed him and his wife from the intersection of 12th Avenue South to their home on 16th Avenue South.
The woman then “stopped her vehicle on the grass in front of their home” and had a “brief verbal exchange” with the couple, officials said.
That’s when the man contacted police, telling dispatchers the woman was “claiming to be the mayor and appeared intoxicated.”
When officers arrived at the scene, they saw the woman leaning on her vehicle. She identified herself to the officers as the mayor of Naples.
Heitmann was arrested after completing field sobriety tests, the NPD said.
She was transported to the Naples Jail Center and agreed to take a breath test to determine her blood alcohol content.
“Mrs. Heitmann completed two breath samples which resulted in a blood alcohol content of 0.155 and 0.169.” authorities said. “The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.”
Heitmann was released early Thursday morning on a $500 bond, local television station WBBH reported. Her arraignment is set for Sept. 18.
The 61-year-old, who won her re-election bid by only 22 votes earlier this year, has been “a compassionate and involved resident of the City of Naples since 1988,” according to her official bio.
She cites “adhering to the ethics and codes of conduct set forth by early Naples residents” as one of the issues she considers to be of “extreme importance.”