A woman who just got out of jail Sunday was arrested again a few hours later after she allegedly drank a bottle of chardonnay, then drove drunk down Union Avenue in front of a police officer.
Mary Cavitch, 27, was charged with DUI, reckless driving, disregarding a traffic signal, driving on a suspended license and resisting arrest. She is being held on $5,000 bond.
Cavitch was sentenced to four months in jail after a May DUI in which she had a 3-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy in the car with her. However, three months and 11 days of that sentence was suspended, and according to an affidavit, she told police she got out of jail early Sunday.
At that point, she apparently decided to go to the Celtic Crossing pub in Midtown to celebrate, downing the bottle of wine. After leaving the pub, Cavitch apparently headed west on Union just after 12:30 a.m. Monday. A police officer was stopped at a traffic light at Kimbrough and Union, heading east, when Cavitch allegedly blew through the light. She allegedly passed so close to the squad car going so fast that the officer said his vehicle shook.
The officer triggered his lights and siren and turned to follow, at which point he said Cavitch stomped on her brakes just in front of the Taco Bell. She then drove on, despite the officer telling her to stop through his loudspeaker. She kept stopping and starting before finally coming to a halt near Methodist University Hospital. When the cop came to her car, she allegedly said, "What's wrong, officer?" She almost fell when getting out of the car, he said, and could not follow his commands.
The officer handcuffed her and put her in the squad car, but she managed to slip out of the cuffs three separate times, the affidavit said.
Cavitch has a long history of brushes with the law. In a May arrest, she smashed into a utility pole in Cordova, critically injuring the boy in the car. Police found almost 10 grams of marijuana on her, and she said she'd consumed half of a bottle of vodka. Both children recovered.
In January, she was arrested after passing out in a tanning bed. Police found Xanax and a generic Lorazepam in her purse. In February 2011, she was arrested for trespass after showing up at a man's apartment. The man told police that every time she visited, some of his prescription medication went missing, according to an affidavit. He also told police she once set his car on fire.
In 2010, she was also charged with violating child passenger safety responsibility.
Copyright 2014 - The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
