A 34-year-old Roswell woman faces multiple charges, including DUI child endangerment, after she crashed her car with her toddler son in the back seat, and then allegedly raised a ruckus at a hospital, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“This lady was going down Old Alabama Road and driving wildly, out of control,” Roswell police spokeswoman Officer Lisa Holland told Channel 2. Later, Holland said, the woman “became very belligerent at the hospital [and] started fighting police.”
Ashley Shields also was charged with DUI less safe, reckless driving, passing in a no-passing zone, obstruction of an officer and disorderly conduct in connection with the Monday afternoon incident.
Roswell police were dispatched shortly after 2 p.m. to an accident on Old Alabama Road north of Riverside Drive.
There, witnesses told them that a Toyota 4Runner going about 60 mph in a 35 mph zone had passed a vehicle on the left of the double lines, lost control and collided with a Jeep Cherokee and a Nissan Altima coming in the opposite direction, according to a Roswell police report.
When Shields, the driver of the Toyota, and her 18-month-old son were placed in an ambulance, and later in the emergency room of North Fulton Hospital, officers said they noticed “a strong odor of alcohol” coming from the woman.
The woman told officers she had four one-shot bottles of vodka at her home that morning and had taken prescribed medication for depression, police said. She said she did not remember anything about the accident.
Police said they placed Shields under arrest and had blood drawn for a test.
“During the time at the hospital, she was very uncooperative with hospital staff and was cursing out towards the hallway towards the other patients,” police said. She allegedly ignored police warnings to quiet down “and continued to yell and scream at hospital staff.”
Shields and her son were treated and then released from the hospital.
When she was discharged about 5:50 p.m., the woman resisted as she was handcuffed and fought, kicked and cursed officers as they placed her in a police vehicle, police said. She was taken to the Roswell Detention Center. She subsequently posted $16,500 bond and was released.
Shields did not answer her door for Channel 2 or return calls from its reporter. Police said they have notified the state Division of Family and Children Services.
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