Saco woman accused of drunken driving with son in car

MERRIMAC, Mass. — A Maine woman accused of driving drunk with her son in the car and then crashing into another car on Interstate 495 South on Monday afternoon was being held on $1,500 cash bail after her arraignment Tuesday in Newburyport District Court.

Terri A. O’Malley, 39, of Saco, Maine, was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol (second offense), driving while under the influence of drugs, child endangerment while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, malicious destruction of property over $250, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, speeding and marked lanes.

She is due back in court on Sept. 24 for a pretrial hearing.

According to Trooper Kyle Flanagan’s report, O’Malley was swerving in and out of lanes at a high rate of speed around 1:30 p.m. when she cut off another motorist. The motorist lost control, sending the car in a tailspin that landed it in the wrong direction straddling the right-hand lane and breakdown lane, police said. Moments later, O’Malley crashed into a guardrail near the southbound rest stop. There were no injuries reported.

O’Malley became very agitated when questioned by a Merrimac police officer who also had gone to the crash scene, the report said. O’Malley reportedly attempted to move away from the officer, forcing him to restrain her. Flanagan ran to assist the Merrimac officer and at that point O’Malley allegedly was cursing and screaming. O’Malley insisted she did nothing wrong and said she simply was returning home to Maine. Flanagan asked O’Malley if she realized she was traveling south, not north, and heading in the wrong direction from home, prompting her to get angrier, according to Flanagan’s report.

Believing she may be under the influence of alcohol, Flanagan asked O’Malley to submit to a field sobriety test. She refused and became even more upset, according to the report. For her own safety, O’Malley reportedly was handcuffed and placed under arrest.

When placed inside Flanagan’s cruiser, O’Malley began kicking at the windows with both feet, eventually displacing the door and window from its seal, and with his cruiser’s door warped, Flanagan transferred O’Malley to the Merrimac police officer’s cruiser, which was equipped with bars across the back windows, Flanagan wrote.

O’Malley’s son, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of her car, was taken to the Merrimac police station, where he was picked up by his father. The son, whose age police did not provide, later was interviewed at the state police barracks in Newbury regarding the accident and the Department of Children’s Services was contacted.

During the booking process, O’Malley refused to cooperate, leading police to believe she may have been under the influence of drugs as well. It later was determined she had recently taken depressants and stimulants, according to Flanagan’s report.

© 2012 The Eagle-Tribune

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