A man previously convicted of felony DUI manslaughter was arrested this morning on a new charge of driving under the influence, records show.

William Edward Ham, 31, of Tampa, is being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail today because the arrest about 3:30 a.m. violates the conditions of his probation, jail records say.

Tampa police arrested Ham at North Central Avenue and East Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, noting his blood-alcohol level was at .180 and .179, according to jail records. Under Florida law, a person is considered intoxicated at .08.

An officer was stopped behind a silver Nissan Maxima at a red light this morning. When the light turned green, the vehicle didn’t move.

The officer got out of her car and found Ham passed out or sleeping behind the wheel, police say. The Nissan’s engine was running, and the car was in drive. Ham didn’t respond when the officer tried verbally getting his attention.

“He opened his eyes once the officer tapped him on the shoulder. When the officer asked for the suspect’s driver’s license, he tried to hand her $20 bills,” a Tampa Police Department news release states.

Ham’s eyes were bloodshot, police say. The officer smelled alcohol on Ham.

A condition of Ham’s release is that he can’t have illegal drugs or alcohol.

“Obviously this guy has a problem. It’s very scary, and we’re just glad we got him,” police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. “A police officer was at the right place at the right time to stop him before he killed someone else.”

Ham was released from a Florida state prison in January 2008 after serving roughly 10 years for DUI manslaughter, state corrections records show.

Records show Ham was arrested on the DUI manslaughter charge in October 1998 regarding the death of Sandra L. Allen, 36, of Riverview.

Ham was drunk and traveling above the 45 mph posted speed limit on Oct. 21, 1998, when he rear-ended Allen’s 1983 Chevrolet while westbound on Bloomingdale Avenue, according to the traffic crash report.

Allen’s vehicle spun into a metal railing and then a utility pole, the report states.

Ham is under community supervision, a form of felony probation, until 2012.

He declined comment today.

An attempt to reach Allen’s family was unsuccessful.

Matthew Lovejoy, a friend and former classmate of his at Bloomingdale High, said he hasn’t spoken to Ham about the DUI-manslaughter conviction. But he said Ham is a smart person and that “even when he writes a simple comment on your Facebook… he’s writing as if he’s writing a novel.”

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