LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – William Bosworth became an internet sensation after video showed sheriff’s deputies pulling over the 85-year-old for allegedly driving 110 mph and racing another driver.
Now 86, Bosworth is speaking publicly about his arrest, the viral attention, and how his life has changed since pleading no contest to the criminal charges.
“It devastated me,” Bosworth said in an interview with News 6 Investigator Mike DeForest. “It’s funny, but it’s not funny. I know it’s serious.”
Bosworth was taken into custody June 13 after Lake County deputies said they caught him racing a red Corvette on U.S. 27 near Leesburg and violating the state’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding law, commonly known as the ‘Super Speeder’ law.
“I am just out having a little ride in my favorite car,” Bosworth told deputies while sitting in his Nissan 350Z and smoking a cigarillo. “I’m not a street racer.”
If convicted by a jury, Bosworth faced up to a year in jail for racing and 30 days for excessive speeding.
“I didn’t want to go to jail,” Bosworth said of his decision to plead no contest to the misdemeanor offenses.
Under the plea agreement, Bosworth was sentenced to a year of supervised probation and issued a $500 fine. He was also required to take an advanced driver improvement course.
Bosworth has spent more than $7,000 on legal costs, he said.
But the worst punishment, according to Bosworth, has been the yearlong suspension of his driver’s license.
“I can’t do anything,” Bosworth said. “I’m not in jail. But I’m behind bars in my house.”
Besides being unable to drive himself to run errands and visit friends, Bosworth said the rules of his gated retirement community prohibit him from operating his golf cart without a license.
“It’s put a terrible burden on my wife,” he said. “We don’t want to eat out no more. I’m a dead man walking.”
Meanwhile, the 2006 Nissan 350Z with a convertible top and customized seat covers emblazoned with “Bosworth” sits idle in his garage.
“I’ve liked cars all my life,” said Bosworth, who used compete in legal drag races when he was younger. “One of the reasons I’m 86 years old is because they make me tick.”
Bosworth told News 6 he’s occasionally driven fast in his Nissan but denies ever putting other motorists in danger.
“I have no fear of speed. Never did,” he said.
On the night he was arrested, Bosworth admits he was driving much faster than the posted 55-mile-per hour speed limit.
“Could you have been going 110?” DeForest asked.
“Possibly,” Bosworth replied. “I would not say I wasn’t.”
But Bosworth continues to insist he was not racing the Corvette as deputies claimed.
While driving alongside the Corvette, Bosworth claims the other vehicle swerved into his lane.
“I didn’t know if he was going to ram me or what he was going to do,” Bosworth said. “My thought was, ‘Get away from him ASAP’.”
Bosworth claims he sped up to pass the other vehicle.
“I was on the gas for six to ten seconds,” he said.
Deputies said the Corvette driver, Philip Signorino, was travelling 125 miles per hour.
Signorino, 57, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racing and dangerous excessive speeding. A jury trial is scheduled for next month.
“I think it’s a good law,” Bosworth said of Florida’s ‘super speeder’ law. “But it should be appropriately used. One size does not fit all.”
Bosworth tells News 6 he is abiding by the terms of his probation and hopes his driving privileges will be restored earlier than expected.
“I’m walking on eggshells,” Bosworth said. “I’m the best boy you could be.”
