Woman charged with DUI after car slams into LaGrange utility pole
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 6, 2015
LaGRANGE — A driver was arrested on a DUI charge after she crashed into a utility pole on Union Street shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday.
“Witnesses said that the driver was swerving up the roadway and they saw her lose control and hit this telephone pole,” said Officer Clint Stephens of the LaGrange Police Department.
A police report identified Darlina D. Simpson, 48, of LaGrange as the driver. She was uninjured in the wreck, but the impact left her vehicle, a white Nissan Versa, with severe front-end damage.
“She’s not being very cooperative with us, so we don’t know exactly what caused her to hit the pole,” Stephens told the Daily News at the scene. “We do, however, believe that she is under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, so we are placing her under arrest for DUI.”
According to the LPD report filed by Stephens, when he arrived Simpson was sitting on the ground after people at the scene had removed her from the vehicle. Stephens wrote that the first thing Simpson asked him was “are you going to take me to jail?”
When Stephens tried to get more information from Simpson, he stated in the report that she only said that she hit the pole and repeatedly said she didn’t wish to discuss it. Stephens reported that Simpson was unsteady on her feet, smelled of alcohol and had to be assisted to an ambulance for a medical check.
Simpson allegedly wouldn’t comply for an alcohol breath test, and Stephens arrested her on the DUI charge citing his observations that she appeared to be under the influence.
The pole remained in place and utility workers were inspecting the scene Thursday afternoon to ensure there was no danger that it could fall and bring down power lines. Stephens said that utility workers would replace the pole.
— Editor Matthew Strother contributed to this report.