BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — An area realtor stopped for DUI reached for a gun in his center console prompting a Boca Raton Police Officer to hold him at gunpoint while summoning emergency backup on the side of Palmetto Park Road late last night.
The Realtor, Steven Daniel Horvath, was ultimately booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.
BocaNewsNow.com obtained the Affidavit of Probable Cause in which the officer recounts the frightening events:
“I was conducting (speed enforcement) at 700 West Palmetto Park Road, a 35 mile per hour zone, when I observed a dark colored vehicle approaching me at a high rate of speed in the westbound inside lane. The vehicle was passing slower moving vehicles. I estimated his speed to be between 60 and 65 miles per hour. As I began to make right turn onto Palmetto park Road, the vehicle suddenly changed lanes from the inside lane to the outside lane in front of another vehicle it was passing. The vehicle then made another sudden lane change back to the inside lane.”
The traffic stop was initiated near Palmetto Park and Royal Palm.
“I approached the driver's window and made contact with a white male who handed me his license and a Florida concealed weapons permit. I identified the driver as Steven Horvath and asked him if he had weapons in the vehicle. Horvath said yes 'in the center console and the glove box.' I told Horvath not to reach for the weapons and for the passenger to to place his hands on the dash of the car. Horvath reached to the center console and grabed a firearm in its case, at which time I immediately held Horvath at gunpoint ordering him to drop the firearm. It took Horvath a moment to release hold of the firearm. The passenger also failed to comply with my order to keep his hands on the dash. With a free hand, I summoned for backup officers to assist.”
Horvath, according to police, failed all of the field sobriety tests he was asked to complete, including reciting the alphabet. He, police allege, was asked to say the alphabet, not sing it, but Horvath said he could only sing the alphabet song.
He was arrested and taken to the Boca Raton Police station where he refused a blood alcohol test. He was charged with DUI and transported to the Palm Beach County Jail where he was later released on his own recognizance.
It is the policy of BocaNewsNow.com to identify the profession of a suspect charged by police when that profession is licensed by the State of Florida or another governing body. Charges are an allegation. Guilt or innocence is determined in a court of law.
