9 Investigates

9 Investigates: Video shows DUI arrest of Kissimmee EMT who had toddler in back seat

Kissimmee firefighter emergency medical technician Samantha Lopez gave up midway through three different DUI field sobriety exercises when she was pulled over last week.

Mount Dora police said an off-duty officer spotted her driving erratically on U.S. 441 last week.

Her 3-year-old daughter was in the back in a car seat.

Channel 9 obtained video of her arrest.

Raw video: Kissimmee firefighter DUI arrest

During the test, she struggles to follow basic instructions.

A battalion chief acknowledged the first arrest in a letter, but she was allowed to continue work with a temporary driver’s license, even though she drives an ambulance.

Four weeks after her first arrest, she was arrested on a DUI charge again.

Kissimmee Fire, like most agencies in Central Florida, does not perform random drug and alcohol screenings.

Orange County Fire Rescue has done so since 2005.

Since then, three firefighters in that department have tested positive, and the department has experiences an average of one drug or alcohol-related arrest a year.

“It’s no different than a speed limit on a highway,” said Orange County Fire Rescue Chief Otto Drozd. “Without the speed limit on the highway, anything can happen. What we’re doing is, we’re setting the expectation, and that’s proven helpful for us.”

Kissimmee said it has no plans to change policies.