Arlington Police Chief Arrests Wrong-Way Driver for Seventh OUI Charge

For Immediate Release
Monday, May 12, 2014

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Captain Richard Flynn, PIO
Office Phone: 781-316-3907
Cell Phone: 781-844-1224
Email: rflynn@town.arlington.ma.us

Arlington Police Chief Arrests Wrong-Way Driver for Seventh OUI Charge

Driver Nearly Caused Serious Crash

Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan today encountered an intoxicated driver careering the wrong way down Summer Street in Arlington. The driver’s arrest and the subsequent investigation determined that the driver had been arrested six previous times for operating under the influence.

As a result, Brenda Drinkwater, age 60, of Revere, has been charged with operating under the influence as a seventh offense.

Chief Ryan was driving on Grove Street around 5:30 p.m. in his unmarked police vehicle, when he saw a grey two-door car driving the wrong way down the road. Behind her, a man in another car was following, repeatedly honking his horn and yelling for her to stop.

Other cars on the road were being forced off the road by the wrong-way driver. Chief Ryan activated his emergency lights and ordered the driver to pull over. Approaching the car, the Chief asked DRINKWATER for her license and registration, and she reached into her purse and handed him a credit card and a receipt from a liquor store for a bottle of vodka. The Chief then saw an open bottle of vodka on her passenger seat and could clearly smell the odor of liquor on her breath.

Chief Ryan ordered her out of the car. She nearly fell over and was extremely unsteady on her feet. After failing a number of sobriety tests, she was taken into custody.

In addition to her seventh OUI charge, DRINKWATER has also been charged with operating negligently as to endanger, drinking from an open container while driving, and failure to keep to the right.

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Proactive and Proud

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