A North Little Rock woman was arrested after she drove the wrong way and collided head-on with a police vehicle while her toddler was in the car Thursday night, officials said.
Officer Justin Cross was sent to the intersection of Pershing Boulevard and Percy Machin Drive around 11:10 p.m. after getting a call about a head-on collision with injury, according to a police report.
Near the intersection, Cross saw a black 2008 Chevrolet Impala facing east in the westbound lane of Pershing Boulevard, the report said. A North Little Rock Police Department Chevrolet Tahoe was stopped directly in front of the Impala and had front bumper damage, Cross noted.
Witnesses told police the Impala's 32-year-old driver was slumped over her steering wheel as the vehicle traveled the wrong way down the road. The Impala crashed into the Tahoe, and the airbags deployed, at which time an officer who witnessed the accident pulled the 32-year-old from the driver's seat and placed her in handcuffs, police said.
The officer inside the Tahoe was not hurt, Cross said.
The woman's 3-year-old son, who was in the Impala unrestrained, was not injured in the wreck, police said. The child's father reportedly came to the scene to pick him up.
The woman told police at the scene that she drank some vodka at a birthday party before driving that night and had taken seizure medication, the report said. A Styrofoam cup of flavored vodka was also found in her vehicle, officials said.
The driver had a cut on her chin and was transported to Baptist Health Medical Center for treatment, police said. At the hospital, a blood sample was taken, and the woman told police she had no memory of the accident, the report said.
Officers determined the 32-year-old had "created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to her son" and arrested her on a charge of endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree, the report said.
She was never booked into Pulaski County jail, spokesman Lt. Cody Burk said in an email. It was not immediately clear why the 32-year-old was not taken to jail.
