A driver has been charged with OVWI after she was found unconscious behind the wheel of her vehicle that was still running while stopped in the southbound lane of SR 157 north of Bloomfield last Friday.

Jessica Nicole Vail, 38, Franklin, Ind., was arrested by Deputy Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department last Friday, March 12.

Vail was found unconscious behind the wheel of a 2017 Nissan Juke that was sitting in the middle of the southbound lane of State Road 157 north of Bloomfield last Friday around 4:30 p.m.

At 4:26 p.m., dispatch at the sheriff’s department got a call from a driver who said the Nissan Juke, southbound on SR 157, was all over the road. While the caller was on the phone with dispatch, the Nissan came to a stop in the road south of Miller Road. The caller then said the driver was unconscious in the driver’s seat.

GCSD Deputy Michael Coy was off-duty but close by and responded to the scene. He was able to shut the vehicle off and wake the driver, later identified as Jessica Vail who said she had just gotten off work and was tired. When Deputy Coy asked if she thought it was a good idea to take a nap in the middle of the road, Vail allegedly said, “Apparently.” When asked if she had consumed any alcoholic beverages, Vail allegedly said she didn’t want to talk about it.

While on the scene Deputy Coy talked to the caller who said she witnessed Vail go off the road and hit a gravel culvert and drive through a yard then back onto the road.

When Deputy Allor, the lead investigator, arrived on the scene, a paramedic from the Greene County Ambulance Service told him Vail appeared to be intoxicated and had open beverage containers in the driver’s side door pocket, along with a Glock 42 .380.

Deputy Allor said Vail exhibited signs of intoxication, was unable to hold her head up straight and had unsteady balance. Deputy Allor said Vail attempted to pull away from him when he tried to handcuff her.

Vail failed standard field sobriety tests on the scene, tested above the legal limit on a portable breath test and said she would not agree to take a chemical test. When told she could lose her license for a year if she did not give consent, she allegedly said she had been a police officer for seven years and was clear on the rules.

Some empty bottles of Fireball whiskey and Jagermeister were found in the driver’s side door pocket, the passenger floorboard and under the passenger’s front seat.

Vail was transported to the sheriff’s department and after she reportedly failed field sobriety testing there, she agreed to a chemical test but testing was incomplete due to insufficient samples caused by not blowing into the machine as instructed.

Vail was transported to Greene County General Hospital for a blood draw but once there, she refused to give consent. So she was transported back to the sheriff’s department and the deputy applied for and was granted a search warrant for a blood draw which was completed at the jail by ambulance personnel – results pending.

Vail was booked into jail at 8:36 p.m. Her bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She posted $400 and was released on March 13.

Vail retained an attorney from Bloomington and waived her initial hearing.

She is charged with:

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

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