GreeneStreets

View Original

Driver arrested after crashing into a utility pole then damaging two parked cars

Around 1 a.m. Saturday, a driver crashed her SUV into a utility pole then hit a parked car which in turn hit another parked car. She was arrested for allegedly driving with a BAC of .165.

Sara Lynn Hensley

Sara Lynn Hensley, 45, Linton, was arrested by Officer Zachary Goad of the Linton Police Department early Saturday, January 22.

Hensley was the driver of a gray 2004 Chevrolet Avalanche involved in a crash early Saturday. Hensley called 911 around 1 a.m. and reported the crash, saying it happened while she was trying to dodge an animal in the roadway.

Officer Goad was dispatched to the intersection of 11th Street NW and A Street NW in Linton where he found the Chevrolet had crashed into a utility pole causing the pole to break near the ground. Officer Goad said after striking the pole, the vehicle continued for a short distance and then hit a parked silver 2013 Nissan Armada. The Nissan Armada was pushed into another parked vehicle, a 2016 Toyota Sienna.

When Hensley told Officer Goad that she swerved to avoid hitting an animal in the road, he said he noticed her speech was sightly slurred and he asked if she had been drinking. Hensley first said she drank two beers then later said she drank two beers and a shot at the Palace Bar earlier in the night.

LPD Officers Bobby Pierce and Cayden Walker had arrived on scene to assist and they both advised they could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Hensley’s breath.

Standard field sobriety tests were administered on the scene along with a portable breath test which showed she had an alcohol content above the legal limit.

Hensley was transported to the police department where she failed another sobriety test but agreed to submit to a certified chemical breath test. Test results showed she had a blood alcohol content of .165. The legal limit is 08.

Hensley was booked into the Greene County Jail at 2:29 a.m. with bond set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She posted $400 and was released later the same day.

A criminal case was filed against Hensley in Greene Superior Court earlier today. She is facing charges of:

  • Operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor,

  • Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor, and

  • Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .15 or more, a Class A misdemeanor.

She is scheduled to be in court for her initial hearing on February 3.