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Larchmont Woman Who Backs Into Patrol Car Was Driving Drunk, Police Say

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. - A woman from Larchmont was arrested in Scarsdale over the weekend on suspicions of drinking and driving after she drove into a police car while attempting to park on Garth Road.

7-Eleven on Garth Road in Scarsdale.

7-Eleven on Garth Road in Scarsdale.

Photo Credit: Google Maps

At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 16, two Scarsdale police officers were in front of 7-Eleven on Garth Road, returning to their car, when they saw a driver turn right onto the roadway from Popham Road, attempting to park.

According to the officers’ report, in the process of attempting to park, the driver - later identified as 25-year-old Susan Kanchewa - struck the police vehicle while backing into the space. After approaching the driver, the officers reported a strong odor of alcohol coming from Kanchewa’s breath.

Kanchewa told officers that she had three tequila drinks at “Taco Bar” in Port Chester several hours earlier, police said. The officers then advised her to remove the keys from the ignition, which she failed to do because the transmission was still in reverse. They then asked for her license, registration and insurance card.

“The operator handed me her license and insurance card and was searching for her registration,” the report says. “At one point she had her registration in her hand and put it back into an envelope that was in her car.”

Police then advised Kanchewa that she had put the registration away and reported that she was uncoordinated and could not locate it again. After several failed attempts to assist her, Kanchewa’s passenger handed the registration card to the officers from the envelope.

During several subsequently failed Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, police said that Kanchewa was unsteady on her feet as she exited the vehicle and her eyes were glassy and bloodshot.

Following the failed tests, Kanchewa took an alco-sensor pre-screening test, which showed that she had a blood alcohol content of .20 percent, nearly triple the legal limit. She was arrested and transported to Scarsdale Police Headquarters, where a Datamaster DMT test read her blood alcohol content at .16 percent, double the legal limit.

Kanchewa was charged with driving while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content greater than .08 percent, both misdemeanors. She was also cited for operating a motor vehicle without insurance. She is due back in Scarsdale Village Court later this year.

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