An Orlando father is facing DUI, child neglect, and battery on a law enforcement officer charges after his own children told investigators he was drinking and smoking marijuana behind the wheel while driving them at speeds topping 100 mph. One child reportedly had to grab the steering wheel when the man appeared to fall asleep mid-drive.
Jesse Vance McCabe, 46, of Spring Hill, was booked into the Orange County Jail on Sunday under booking number 26026810, according to Orange County Jail records. As reported by FOX 35 Orlando, McCabe drove with his two children in the vehicle while allegedly impaired, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph during the trip.
According to the arrest report cited by the station, McCabe's children told investigators their father had been drinking alcohol and smoking medical marijuana while driving. One of the children texted a grandmother that McCabe was drunk and driving over 120 miles per hour, and that same child grabbed the steering wheel at one point because McCabe appeared to be falling asleep at the wheel and almost crashed.
Family Tracking App Logged Dozens of Reckless Moments
The station's report notes that the Life360 family-tracking app recorded a top speed of 107 mph during the drive, along with 43 separate reckless driving incidents over the course of the trip. Life360 relies on smartphone GPS and telemetry hardware to log data such as top speed, hard braking and crash detections, broadcasting alerts to family members when dangerous driving occurs, according to Swerve Driving School.
McCabe was also seen throwing beer cans out of the vehicle window, according to the arrest report. When the car eventually stopped near Colonial Drive and Forsyth Road, a bystander helped push McCabe's vehicle into a gas station parking lot, police said, per the same account. Officers reported that McCabe appeared to have difficulty standing, and his breath-alcohol level came back more than 2.5 times the legal limit.
McCabe's grandmother arrived to pick up the children after the incident, according to the arrest report. Retired sheriff's detective Jamie Copenhaver told the outlet that an officer's immediate concern in a case like this would be protecting the children first.
Charges Carry Steep Penalties Under Florida Law
McCabe faces charges including DUI, child neglect and battery on a law enforcement officer, along with a misdemeanor DUI count, jail records show. Under Florida Statute § 316.193(4), a DUI involving a passenger under 18 or a breath-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher elevates first-offense penalties to a fine between $1,000 and $2,000 and up to nine months in jail, according to Pumphrey Law — well beyond the $500 to $1,000 fines and six-month maximum for a standard first offense.
The child neglect charge alone is a third-degree felony under Florida Statute § 827.03, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, per the Fort Lauderdale Criminal Lawyer firm. Separately, Florida Statute § 784.07 reclassifies battery on a law enforcement officer from a first-degree misdemeanor into its own third-degree felony, also carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to the Law Offices of Robert David Malove. Combined, the charges expose McCabe to significant prison time across multiple counts.
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal has previously underscored the stakes in cases like this. In a November 2025 ruling, the court found that impaired drivers with child passengers expose those minors to significant risk of severe harm or death, since young children are under a parent's control and unable to protect themselves, according to the Sammis Law Firm. If convicted, McCabe would also be required to install an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he owns or routinely drives for at least six months at his own expense, per Florida Statute § 316.193.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Central Florida
Orange County has repeatedly ranked among the top counties in Florida for impaired-driving crashes, recording dozens of alcohol- and drug-confirmed incidents during state safety monitoring periods, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Statewide, law enforcement recorded 44,185 DUI arrests in 2023, and reckless driving citations climbed more than 5% between 2021 and 2023, per DriversEd.com.
McCabe's arrest is the latest in a string of Central Florida DUI cases involving children that Hoodline has covered in recent months, including a Pine Hills Walgreens parking lot bust. It remains unclear whether the State Attorney's Office will adjust the charges McCabe currently faces, what custody arrangements have been made for the children through the Department of Children and Families, or whether defense attorneys will challenge the reliability of app-based speed data compared with law enforcement radar.
