A 22-year-old Middlesex woman is facing drunk driving charges after police say she drove onto a sidewalk and crashed into a parking lot. The incident happened shortly after 11 p.m. on Nov. 15.
According to Canandaigua law enforcement officials, the woman was detained by police after she drove off the side of the road, onto a sidewalk and into a parking lot where she crashed her vehicle. They said the accident happened because she was consuming alcohol and operating her mobile phone device while driving.
Police who arrived at the scene said they found the woman inside her car and took her into custody on suspicion driving under the influence of alcohol. Her charges include moving from a lane unsafely and driving on the sidewalk, operating a motor vehicle while using a mobile device, consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle and felony driving with a blood alcohol content of more than .08 percent.
Those who are charged with drunk driving face stringent penalties if they are convicted. These can include, in addition to a driver’s license suspension, substantial fines and in some cases incarceration. In addition, their employment prospects could be adversely affected. As a result, people who are in this situation may want to meet with a defense attorney as soon as possible to determine the strategy to employ. In cases where this was the defendant’s first offense, it is not uncommon for the prosecutor to agree to having the defendant perform a specified number of hours of community service in lieu of a jail sentence.
Source: WWMT, “Police: Woman drove drunk onto sidewalk while texting”, Nov. 17, 2016