Erratic driver lost on I-69 tests with BAC of .21

A driver accused of OVWI, who was on her way from Evansville to Petersburg, missed Petersburg and wound up in a median on I-69 in Greene County where a truck driver called 911 about her erratic driving.

China Lee Durst

China Lee Durst, 26, Petersburg, was arrested by Deputy Marshal Wayman JR Blazier of the Bloomfield Police Department early Sunday, November 28.

Durst was booked into the Greene County Jail at 3:22 a.m. with bond set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She posted $400 and was released later the same day. She is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court early Thursday for her initial hearing on 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.

Around 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 28, a man called the sheriff’s department and reported a vehicle that had been all over the roadway on I-69 was now off the road in the median. He said the driver appeared to be passed out. Before officers arrived, he called back and said the driver was moving around but was still “out of it.”

Officer Blazier responded along with Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Devan Goad. When they arrived on the scene, they found an orange/copper colored 2008 Dodge Nitro in the median. The driver was identified as China Durst.

The caller, who was still on the scene, was a semi-truck driver who said he was traveling behind Durst and she was all over the roadway. He said she pulled over at one point and he also stopped to check on her but when he got out of his truck, she backed her vehicle down the interstate and drove into the median where she got stuck.

Durst’s vehicle was still running when Deputy Goad approached and told her to shut it off. According to Officer Blazier, when Durst was asked to step out, she had to pull herself out, used the driver’s door to steady herself, and showed several other signs of intoxication. When asked where she was coming from and going to, she said she was coming from Evansville and was headed home to Petersburg. Officer Blazier told her she’d gone about an hour past her destination.

Officer Blazier reported that after Durst was transported to the sheriff’s department, she failed standard field sobriety testing and a certified breath test showed she had a blood alcohol concentration of .21. The legal limit is .08.