A Benton woman has been arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge for the 11th time, authorities said Thursday.
Sheila Blair, 49, was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with DWI, refusal to submit to an intoxication test and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
Blair was paroled in 2008 after serving 11 months of a 10-year sentence handed down after her tenth DWI.
Lt. Kevin Russell said Blair did have a driver's license despite her record.
"I think actually she had gotten it reinstated," he said.
The latest arrest came after officers got a call shortly after 4 p.m. of a reckless driver near Wright Avenue and Shenandoah Road.
The vehicle in question reportedly hit a street sign before police found it merging onto the south service road of Interstate 30.
"The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed when the officers caught up to it, and upon activation of their emergency equipment the vehicle operator refused to stop," Russell wrote in a news release. "The vehicle continued driving erratically, making unsafe lane changes, and almost struck other vehicles until they finally pulled over for the officer."
The driver, Blair, was then arrested and later booked into the Saline County jail.
Russell said the 10 previous DWI arrests have all come since 1995. He said he believed most were in the Benton area but directed questions on them to a deputy prosecutor, who was not immediately available for comment.
A 2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story says Blair was released on parole under an act that allows the Department of Correction to release nonviolent prisoners early. The decision to release her after less than a year drew surprise from the prosecutor's office. A representative from Mothers Against Drunk Driving called it an outrage.
The story then said Blair would be on supervised probation with conditions including "periodic drug testing, total abstinence and community service" until March 2013.
Russell said the previous DWI arrests mean Blair will be facing a felony charge in the latest case.