New details released in deadly Matlacha crash

Reporter: Olivia Jean Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:
Cody J. Curtis’ mugshot. Credit: The Lee County Sheriff’s Office

New details have been released on the deadly crash that occurred last weekend in Matlacha.

On Tuesday, the Florida Highway Patrol released the arrest report for Cody J. Curtis, the man accused of driving into That BBQ Place while under the influence.

According to FHP, Curtis was drinking at Phuzzy’s Boat Shack in Saint James City.

Investigators say Curtis was with a co-worker there, and that co-worker did not get in the car with him as he left on Saturday. Just 13 minutes later, the crash happened.

According to the report, Curtis told troopers he got to Phuzzy’s around 1:30 p.m. and only had two beers.

He says he left the bar around 4 p.m., but surveillance video shows him leaving an hour and a half later, leaving the parking lot at a high rate of speed and kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.

FHP says that when Curtis got to Matlacha, he veered off the road and hit a no-parking sign.

Curtis then drove through the seating area of That BBQ Place, hitting five people and a parked Harley-Davidson.

Curtis continued east on the shoulder and hit other posts, mailboxes and garbage cans before coming back on the road.

That’s when Curtis hit a westbound gray Ford F-150, which stopped his car.

According to the report, Curtis seemed impaired from alcohol right away, and when he was put in the back of a Lee County Sheriff’s Office patrol car, he smelled like booze, had bloodshot, watery eyes, stuttered and had slurred speech.

A trooper said at one point, Curtis was sobbing uncontrollably; then, the next minute, he would appear calm.

Paramedics arrived to draw his blood, but Curtis refused to give a blood sample.

Four hours after the crash, EMS finally got his blood drawn, which showed a blood alcohol level of .137.

Curtis made his first appearance in court on Tuesday morning, where his bond was set at $252,000.

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