A Worthington woman is accused of crashing her SUV, causing heavy front-end damage, then leaving the scene last Thursday. WPD officers responded to investigate and she's accused of punching one in the chest then kicking them on the shin.

Tammy Jo Carrell-Rush, 57, Worthington, was arrested by Deputy Marshal Heather Wood of the Worthington Police Department last Thursday afternoon, June 16.

Around 11:30 AM last Thursday, the Greene County Sheriff's Department received a report from a traveler about an erratic driver with a damaged vehicle that was northbound toward the town of Worthington. The caller said she and her husband were traveling directly behind the vehicle and it was moving very slow with the right front tire shaking severely. The caller then reported the vehicle turned left onto South Myra Street.

Officer Wood responded and found a black SUV with heavy front-end damage at the residence of Tammy Jo Carrell-Rush located on South Myra Street. WPD Chief Jim O'Malley and Officer Ryan Montgomery also arrived on the scene to assist and they knocked on the doors of the home for several minutes before Carrell-Rush answered a door to speak with them. Officers reported she was emitting a strong odor of alcohol, had garbled speech, had difficulty standing up and was staggering. She denied needing medical assistance. When asked if she knew where her vehicle was located, she said she didn't know.

Carrell-Rush was escorted to the driveway to look at her vehicle. She said she didn't know how the vehicle became damaged and she didn't know what she might have hit but she allegedly did admit she was driving and had been drinking “a little” that morning but she couldn't remember what she'd been drinking or how much. She said she'd been visiting a friend but she refused to identify the friend or where she was. She allegedly said that she would not want anyone to know where she had been or who her friend was and she asked the officers to not tell her husband.

Officer Wood said the vehicle had what appeared to be tree bark and wood stuck in the right front tire rim and embedded into the front of the vehicle. It also had a broken tie rod that would have made it difficult to drive.

Chief O'Malley explained they wanted to determine location of the crash to check the extent of damages to property or possibly a power pole but Carrell-Rush continued to refuse to share any information about where she had been. She did say her cell phone was in her purse and they could use her cell phone to find out where her location may have been.

Her purse was then confiscated until a search warrant could be obtained but she became extremely upset about that, stood up and started to swing fists at Officer Montgomery. When Chief O'Malley asked her to sit back down, she told him she would “bust him in the head.” She became more irate when advised she would be placed in handcuffs for officer safety. Carrell-Rush resisted and is accused of then hitting Officer Wood in the chest with a closed fist then kicking Officer Wood on the shin. During the scuffle, Officer Montgomery sustained a small cut on his middle finger of one hand.

When Carrell-Rush’s husband arrived on the scene, he located her cell phone inside her vehicle and turned it over to the officers and her purse was returned to her possession.

Officer Montgomery filed paperwork to get a search warrant for her cell phone and after she was transported to the Greene County Jail, a blood draw was taken - results pending.

Carrell-Rush was booked into the Greene County Jail at 1:40 PM with bond set at $9500 surety with 10% cash allowed. She is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for her initial hearing on June 27 when she will be formally charged with:

Operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor,
Resisting law enforcement - knowingly or intentionally forcibly resisting, a Class A misdemeanor,
Battery against a law enforcement officer, a level 6 felony, and
Leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor.