Alleged DUI driver, 67, hit Bluffton police car while passed out at wheel, cops say
A 67-year-old woman is accused of striking a Bluffton Police Department patrol vehicle while driving under the influence earlier this month. Police and a witness said she appeared to be passed out at the wheel as she swerved into the wrong lanes of Buckwalter Parkway.
The accused driver, a Bluffton resident, was charged in the early morning of May 6 with driving under the influence, 1st offense, inmate records show.
Dispatchers sent police to the parkway’s intersection with Lake Point Drive around 10:30 p.m. May 5. One Bluffton officer noted seeing several vehicles pulled to the side of the road while a 2026 Mercedes sedan traveled at around 5 mph in the wrong lanes of traffic, according to an incident report.
Worried about a head-on collision, at least one officer drove past the Mercedes with the goal of stopping any vehicles heading its way, the report says.
Meanwhile, another patrol officer honked his horn at the driver in an attempt to get her attention, police wrote in the report. After that failed, the officer reportedly joined the Mercedes in the wrong-way lanes “to gain her attention from the driver’s side.” That’s when he saw the driver with her “head back against the headrest” and both hands on the steering wheel, apparently unconscious, the police report says.
The Mercedes then swerved to the left and collided with the front of the officer’s vehicle before speeding up, striking a road sign and several pieces of landscaping, police wrote in the report. It came to a stop near the Kroger on Discovery Drive, a short drive away from Bluffton police’s headquarters. The sedan’s only other occupant at the time was the 67-year-old’s dog, which was handed over to Beaufort County Animal Services for “safekeeping” as police responded to the crash, according to the report.
Damages to Bluffton patrol car
Police noted the driver smelled of alcohol, appeared “extremely disoriented” and would repeatedly doze off while speaking with officers.
She failed her field sobriety tests and allegedly admitted to drinking more vodka “then she should have,” the report says. Officers wrote in the report that she later refused to take a breathalyzer test, meaning her license was suspended under South Carolina’s implied consent law. Eydie Moody, a spokesperson for Bluffton police, said the officer in the patrol car was not injured in the collision. The alleged DUI driver damaged the police vehicle’s front passenger wheel and quarter panel, Moody said on Wednesday, although the department did not yet have an estimate for the cost of repairs to the 2022 Ford Explorer.
Moody said the 67-year-old driver would not face additional charges related to the damages to the police department’s vehicle.
The driver was released on a $992 personal recognizance bond, Beaufort County court records show, meaning she will not be required to pay the amount unless she violates court conditions.
The S.C. Highway Patrol was assigned to investigate the case, according to the incident report.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette do not publish the names of individuals who were charged with misdemeanor crimes unless the accused is a public figure or if revealing their name is a matter of public interest.
