The old, pretending-to-be-asleep trick bombs in Port St. Lucie

Will Greenlee | Treasure Coast Newspapers

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PORT ST. LUCIE — The old, pretending-to-be-asleep trick apparently didn’t work after a 23-year-old man got pulled over during a crash investigation, according to an arrest affidavit.

Port St. Lucie police about 3:33 a.m. on Feb. 11 went to a report of a crash. A silver, Ford van with dark-tinted windows was reported leaving the scene in the 1600 block of Southeast Goucho Avenue.

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An officer stopped a silver van, and saw a man “look at me through the large side view mirror, in the driver’s seat,” the affidavit states.

“The driver then jumped into the back seat and pretended he was asleep,” the affidavit states.

The man tried to put the van in park before hopping in the back seat. Instead of park, he shifted it into reverse, and backed into the police car.

Police identified the man as 23-year-old Estuardo Chaj. Police say Chaj hasn’t had a license issued to him.

“He said he was here only 15 days and that he lives in Guatemala,” the affidavit states.

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Police stated Chaj smelled of booze, and had a “physical as well as a mentally intoxicated presence.”

Chaj participated in field sobriety exercises before being arrested on a DUI charge.

A witness told investigators he saw the silver van strike a parked car and back into a fire hydrant.

Chaj also was arrested on hit and run and operate motor vehicle without a valid license charges.

Breath tests measured his blood alcohol content at 0.2 and 0.199 – more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

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