GENTRY — Whether driving while intoxicated led to an accident with a deer - or, perhaps, with another object - or whether hitting a deer led to being caught DWI is not certain, but a Springdale woman went to jail in the wee hours of Nov. 11 following an accident.

According to police reports, Casondra Nunley, 28, of Springdale, was arrested and charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol after an accident on Arkansas Highway 59 just north of the Gentry city limits.

Reports state that the Gentry officer, assisting the Arkansas State Police, checked on a 2001 Ford Taurus with its emergency flashers on. The car was occupied by Michael Burrow and Nunley. Both had the odor of alcoholic beverage on their breath, according to reports. Though Burrow was on the driver’s side of the car, both Burrow and Nunley said she was driving at the time of the accident. Burrow said he was trying to move the car off the road, according to police reports.

Both also said Nunley hit a deer, according to reports, but the Gentry officer noted a “busted” front tire on the passenger side, a broken rear axleand scrapes down the passenger side of the car “consistent with hitting a concrete object.”

Field sobriety tests indicated that Nunley was intoxicated, according to reports. A breath test for blood alcohol indicated a blood alcohol level of .13, according to reports. The legal limit is .08.

Nunley was charged with DWI and with careless and prohibited driving. She was booked into the Benton County Jail, cited and held for eight hours.

Shortly before midnight on Nov. 4, police stopped Francene Hardin, 67, of Pine Bluff, after being notified of a car driving all over the road and in and out of the ditch on Arkansas Highway 12 coming into Gentry from the west. According to reports, police also saw Hardin’s car cross the center line several times in Gentry before it was stopped. Reports state Hardin’s car then went over the curb and up onto the sidewalk before coming to a stop.

Field sobriety tests and the smell of alcoholic beverage on Hardin’s breath indicated she was intoxicated, according to reports. Hardin failed to complete the breath test for blood alcohol and did not consent to a blood test.

Hardin was charged with DWI, refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test and driving left of center.

News, Pages 5 on 11/21/2012