Waterloo, MI - Judge Releases Woman Who Was Drunk - Stole A Police Cruiser And Crashed Into Guard Rail
Judge releases
woman who crashed cruiser
- Local - Judge releases woman who crashed cruiser
WATERLOO REGION
A woman who crashed a stolen police cruiser while on a drinking binge got out
of jail yesterday after asking a judge for one more chance to turn her life
around.
"The feelings I have of shame, guilt and embarrassment are so strong I don't
ever want to be in this position again," Deirdre Scullion, 30, wrote in a letter
to Justice Colin Westman.
The prosecution sought the equivalent of a 15-month jail term for a string of
crimes that ended with Scullion crashing a cruiser into a guardrail while
speeding on Highway 401.
Defence lawyer Sean Safa stressed that Scullion, an alcoholic and cocaine
addict, did extremely well in counselling programs while in custody after her
arrest.
Those efforts and her letter persuaded Westman to release her after the
equivalent of just seven months in jail -- 3 1/2 months already served, credited
on a two-for-one basis.
"I am a smart woman and would like to be given one chance only to prove that I
am capable of living a stable life and being a good citizen in the community,"
she wrote.
Scullion has a long record of offences, including assaulting police, escaping
custody, abduction, theft and forgery.
After a month in rehabilitation for alcoholism, she went to an Aug. 31 barbecue
at her parents' home in Guelph to see her three children again.
Once her mother had gone to bed, Scullion began drinking, took the family car
and went to see her boyfriend.
"You were unable to face the temptations when you got back on the street,"
Westman said.
Scullion then drank more, left after an argument with her boyfriend, picked up
three friends and continued the binge.
One of her friends was driving when the car was pulled over for speeding on King
Street in Kitchener the following afternoon.
Scullion was arrested because the car had been reported stolen. She was
handcuffed and placed in the back of an idling cruiser.
While officers were talking to witnesses, Scullion somehow slipped out of the
handcuffs and got behind the wheel.
She then drove off, honking the horn to move traffic out of her way and
running two red lights while police in another cruiser chased her.
The pursuit was called off for safety reasons as Scullion got onto the 401 and
drove west to Oxford Road 29 at 140 kilometres an hour.
She was trying to make a U-turn when she slid off the highway and hit a
guardrail. Two off-duty police officers happened by and arrested her again.
Scullion's blood-alcohol level was more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit. She
pleaded guilty in September to dangerous driving, impaired driving and two
counts of theft over $5,000.
Westman prohibited Scullion from driving for three years and placed her on
probation for two years, with a condition that she not drink around her children
or boyfriend